Mortality Race
by Revontuli
Summary: Everybody wants it. Everybody would do anything for it. Now that re-transformation is possible, how far will the vampire population go in order to obtain it?
1. Chaos

A/N: This story was beta'ed by TRDancer. A big thanks to her!

All the chapters are written out and ready to go, so you can expect fast updates. I know -- I'm shocked too! The story has been my little project for a while now, so naturally I'd be very grateful for some feedback. It's just no fun writing something when nobody will tell you how they liked it (it's very depressing too!). Please remember to always review the stories you've read -- trust me, that way you'll make the author's day :)

The POV changes quite often so you can get a glimpse of what all the characters are thinking and feeling.

Enjoy! :)

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_Prologue_

In the beginning of all things, there was chaos.

And that is what this beginning was—pure chaos. Mayhem. Confusion.

In fact, it was a party. And the party was interrupted by a man.

There was nothing extraordinary about the situation.

All had gone well until then, and all guests were satisfied.

No unpleasant fights had erupted, nor had any arguments.

Even disagreements were absent from the room.

The evening gowns rustled ever so slightly whenever the women moved, and frocks adorned every man's appearance, and thus made even the nomad friends look very gentlemanly indeed.

Cocktail parties were pleasant occasions; the many smiles ascertained that.

Those smiles were expunged, however, when The Man stormed into the room.

He marched across the marble floor and clambered onto the table.

He stood there proudly, chest jutting out, wild eyes scanning the room.

And the room fell silent when he spoke one single word:

"Vampires."

And there was nothing extraordinary about it.

Nothing extraordinary except for the fact that he was human.

_Chapter One : _Chaos__

**Tanya's POV**

Our silence was instantaneous, but lasted for just a short moment.

The deep hush shattered into a dozen murmured exchanges, ranging from astonishment to worry, and from pained to enraged. The celebration was suddenly over, and a violent want for reaction took its place.

I, as host, felt the duty heavy on my shoulders.

"How does he know?" Kate whispered by my side, hand-in-hand with Garrett and looking quite fearful.

"I have no idea," I whispered back. "But we can worry about that later. Come on!"

My eyes fixed on the source of all this hustle, then narrowed into slits. The stranger's expression was still edgy, though it seemed to be from something other than fear. From excitement, perhaps?

It continued to make no sense to me as I took a few firm steps to cross the short distance dividing us, for from his announcement I knew that he had to be aware of what we were. He knew that he was caught in a room filled with killers that would not hesitate to have him for dinner. Some of Garrett's friends would not hold back if they were given indignation—say, a small cut in his palm?

It was wholly possible that he had scratches _already_. His once white shirt was tattered, and his slacks were swathed with holes; I even shied away from his brown, entangled hair that was surely swarming with all sorts of dangers for my cream white evening dress. His shoulders were a little too broad for his height like his hands, and I noticed with shock that he wasn't wearing any shoes.

So either he was mental or completely stupid – what human would come to a vampire gathering with possibly bleeding cuts all over their feet?

The ceiling lights hit him from a different corner as I neared, and I recognized a small golden cross bound around his neck.

"Do not fear me, my friends! You are witnessing a miracle," he spoke for the second time, seemingly oblivious to my approach.

Well, he wouldn't stay oblivious for very long. I reached the table and grabbed the man's dirt-covered arm.

"The only miracle we're witnessing tonight is you," I told him calmly. "Please come with me to the next room so we can talk about it."

He feebly tried to resist my tug, but, noticing that he couldn't shrug off the hand of a vampire, attempted oral defiance instead: "You don't understand! I am not a danger to you! On the contrary, I bring you good news. Your curse can now be lifted."

"Get him out of here!" someone shouted from behind me. The crowd seemed to have decided on its being a hoax.

I decided to use real force.

But before I could pick up the man and throw him over my shoulder, he shouted out one sentence that yet again silenced everyone.

"I was once a vampire!"

And all the heads snapped upwards in a mix of confusion and doubt.

My eyes involuntarily traveled back to the crowd to rest on one exceptionally surprised friend of mine.

The beautiful blonde vampire didn't even notice me as she stared at the young man.

**Rosalie's POV**

_This. Was. Not. Happening._

I gawked at the stranger who was standing on the table in an awkward pose, one arm in Tanya's hand, the other in the air. I scrutinized his expression: it was wild but sincere.

But part of me still couldn't believe it. This man, this anonymous, dirt-covered man, couldn't be the answer that I'd been waiting for all these years, and his words _had_ to be the effect of alcohol or insanity—possibly both.

This was the rational part of me.

The other part, the one I'd much rather listen to, instantly drew conclusions that made my dead heart leap with animation.

"I have been absolved through The Lord Jesus Christ's mercy."

The crowd had broken out in murmurs again, and I begged everyone would just shut up because they were decking the man's words and making him wait.

"Lunatic," Emmett whispered beside me. I didn't restrain from whacking him with my elbow.

"Ouch."

I shook my head and shushed him.

"Yes, vampires, I was like you only days ago. I killed my last prey on Tuesday this week, and here I am today, preaching to you about the wonder in human form. Listen to me now, and express your amazement later!

"I traveled the continent for fifty years. I had but one companion, and together we journeyed from civilization to civilization, giving in to our desires but also abhorring what we'd become—bloodsucking vampires, of all creatures! We were part of the undead.

"We found enough control to live amongst the humans, however, and could sometimes afford staying at a motel when we yearned for shelter.

"We were staying at one such motel when it happened. My friend held my hand and in a strange burst of energy, I could feel my heart restart. In just a few minutes, I was human again."

By the time he was finished I wasn't the only one paying attention. The whole room had gathered around him.

And as of that minute, I began counting them as rivals.

I pushed Emmett to the side and hurried to the front of the crowd, my high heels clicking against the floor even with my light steps. I kept waiting for the stranger to continue his story, to reveal the necessary facts—but he didn't. He only stood there with his nose pointing to the ceiling, proud and unyielding.

All signs of distrust had vanished from the other guests, and each looked inclined to do precisely what I had next in mind.

A certain course of action imprinted itself in my head.

"Who?" I demanded.

The stranger smiled.

"My friend, Dorothy Mace."

**Edward's POV**

His thoughts were too sincere.

He really knew two things. Firstly, that we were vampires, and secondly…

No, that second point was what he at least _thought_ he knew. It could still easily be a delusion. In fact, it was much more likely to be one, and I would be a fool to anticipate anything else. Rosalie was already too far out on that dangerous road of believing—she was at a point where she would listen to no sense and a rebuff would crush her, and I had no desire to follow her up that path.

"Excuse me."

I left Bella and Alice standing there, looking like statues, and hurried to Carlisle who had been chatting with a nomad on the other side of the room. The dozens of thoughts formed a gust inside my head:

_That man's a maniac._

_This isn't safe. Should I run?_

_Ow. That really hurt. Where did she learn to hit like that?_

_My rivals._

I was too agitated to connect the thoughts to anyone specific. I had to speak to Carlisle, and that was all that mattered. In fact, I was trying to avoid my _own_ thoughts, and most importantly my own hope that was arising much too quickly. This was a matter that, if you wanted best results, had to be looked at from an objective point of view.

For now, anyway.

My father turned to me when he saw my approach, needing no explanation to why I was there, and shook his head and asked,

_Yes?_

"What should we do?" I demanded without hesitation. His partner looked at me with irritation—a goaded "_That must be the crazy Edward everyone's been talking about. The one who married a human?_" flashing through my head while he did so—but politely stepped to the side and left us to our discussion.

Carlisle's mental answer was indecisive.

"_I'm not sure. For now, it would be best to calm down the situation—but how? Let him talk? Lead him away? Ignore him?"_

I let Carlisle trail away with his plans that gave me no answers to anything. A much more nagging question had entered my mind long ago:

_Was it true?_

My entire body seemed to wait on the response to that. All my future actions depended on the truth of the man's words. If he was a fraud, I could smother the seed of hope and return to my normal life—not a bad option, if I considered my position. I was married, I had a daughter and son-in-law, and my family was as supportive as always. Most vampires had heard stories about me and now thought I was crazy, but that was just a minor detail and not something that could be fixed either way.

I was doing better than eighty percent of the human population.

However… if the man was speaking the truth, I had other options. Options I had never considered before.

…_so it's probably best we ask him what he wants. Do you agree, Edward?_

I snapped back to attention at the sound of my name, and nodded. Whatever deliberation Carlisle had just gone through, I knew it would beat any of my own arguments.

He acknowledged my sanction and turned back to the stranger. As usual, his voice revealed none of the worry that coated his thoughts, and his tone was respective and calm.

"What would you like us to do? Do you have someplace to stay?"

But the man could not answer, for someone else had beaten him to it.

'_Someone else'_ being my overly excited sister.

"He can stay with us," Rosalie suggested, not meaning it as a suggestion at all.

**Dorothy's POV**

I clutched my bible closer to my chest and boarded the train.

Some eyes followed me as I passed them on the aisle, but I ignored them the best I could. They weren't staring at me because of what_ happened_, I told myself. They looked at everyone that way.

Still, I prayed for the seat beside mine to be vacant, so I wouldn't have to worry about curious gazes all through the long hours of my journey. Once I'd reach my destination, I would be all right. Linda would know what to do – she always knew. In the end, my situation would not be half as hopeless as it seemed to be now, and I'd find that my worries had all been wasted.

I found both seats in my row empty—thank God—and sat down, wondering if anyone would notice that I didn't carry any luggage. Yet again, my thoughts took the turn for the worse: Was there another vampire on this train? Would someone recognize me? What if…

"Lord, help me!" I whispered and looked down at my bible. Its plain burgundy covers gave me no consolation – but why should the exterior help me in any way? The Lord would look after me, I knew, but why did I find myself doubting at every possible opportunity?

I flipped the book to my favorite page.

_But let all who __take refuge in you __rejoice;  
__let them ever sing for joy,  
__and spread your protection over them,  
__that those who love your name may __exult in you.  
__For you __bless the righteous, o Lord;  
__you __cover him with favor as with __a shield._

I read the passage three times, but to no avail—no peace came to my mind, try as hard as I might to concentrate on the words only, and not on the other passengers that may or may not be my friends.

My eyes closed but I held the book open, as if I could somehow absorb solace from it by simply touching it. My situation was pushing me beyond my limits.

All because of one quarter of an hour! Fifteen fatal minutes had changed my path forever.

I remembered the evening clearly. I remembered holding Richard's hand and wanting to console him. I remembered the look in his brilliant eyes when he'd gazed at me, not affected by my comforting words. I even remembered the sounds coming from the nearby rooms—televisions broadcasting late-night shows, couples kissing, an MP3 player…

And most importantly, I remembered the heat of the energy passing between our bodies, leaving mine, entering his.

The heat had been unbearable. It didn't hurt, but it was uncomfortable, the kind of uncomfortable when you've twisted yourself into an awkward position, or when you feel something against your skin that you can't see. The moment had been so silent that all sounds I could recall were the ones coming from the other rooms: _"I love the standing ovation but you're blocking my light… hahahaa…"_

Richard had let out one last "Lord!" before he passed out for the first time since 1954. In my shock I had failed to let go of his hand, and so the heat burned on in our palms, and I stared desperately at Richard, unsure of what to do.

It wasn't until his heart started beating that I noticed what I'd done. His waking up ten minutes later confirmed it – Richard was human again, and somehow, _I_ had caused the change.

That was what I'd thought, anyway. For when Richard started talking, he praised the Lord and his goodwill, Jesus and his mercy, and did not mention me in a single sentence, until he reached the end when he'd told me: "Dottie, be grateful for this job you have received. Feel honored that the Lord has chosen you as his device."

I hadn't rejected to anything he'd said, but it pained me to admit that I'd doubted it from the very beginning. I didn't blame Richard, though—he'd been unconscious those few minutes, and hadn't witnessed what I had. Of course once he'd woken up to find himself alive again, he would feel it was God's work. It was more difficult to believe when I'd felt the source of that energy _inside_ me.

So I was torn between two things – my faith and my logic – and couldn't decide which to follow.

Instinctively, my hand trailed back to the pages of the bible, and turned to another one that I'd read many times before.

_But let him ask in faith, with no doubting,  
__for the one who doubts is like__a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.  
__For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;  
__he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways._

I shut my eyes again and crossed my hands.

"Please, dear Lord," I whispered, "Give me some guidance!"

It was drawing nearer to night, the scene outside my window turning from shady to obscure, and I pondered about where'd I'd be in twenty-four hours, and whether I'd be fine. The humans around me were drifting slowly to sleep, but I was unable to sink into oblivion and was forced to sit alone with my thoughts, worrying and wavering, like the double-minded man the bible warned me about.

I prayed for forgiveness for claiming God's wonder as my own, and for protection on my long run away from it.

I didn't get an answer.

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First bible passage: Psalm 5:11-12  
Second bible passage: James 1:6-8  
The joke comes from Conan O'Brian's late-night show (I know... from ages ago. It just stuck with me)

Thank you for reading ch. 1 :) As I said -- this story has been in the workings for a great while now and I would be really upset if it went completely unnoticed. So **please review!  
**I will update soon!


	2. Hosts and their Guests

A/N: I promised to update soon, didn't I? Enjoy chapter two :)

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_Chapter Two : _Hosts and their Guests__

**Rosalie's POV**

The car ride home was painfully slow.

We hardly said a word—and if someone tried to start a conversation, I shot them an evil look that stopped the sentence before they even got to the first syllable.

No, I _didn't_ want to talk about it. I noted that Alice especially had a hard time believing that.

"Rosalie," she addressed me at a crossing. "Please don't do anything stupid."

"Why, do you see me doing something stupid?"

"Well… yeah."

Emmett shot me a worried glance from behind the wheel, but I ignored him and snapped back at Alice instead.

"I'm being perfectly rational, thank you for your concern."

I knew she wasn't convinced, but heck—what was the point? We could argue about it for ages. Alice was usually quite bearable, but what she lacked was an understanding of what it was like to be human, whereas to me it was clear as day that we were different from the rest of the world. To Alice, "vampire" was just an abstract word, the definition of what we were. I considered it more of a description.

I was disappointed, though, to see that the topic still hadn't concluded, and that even my own husband had joined the enemy side.

"Rose, honey, I just don't want you to be hurt. The guy could be a lunatic, you know, and then you would have gotten yourself all hyped up over nothing at all."

I rolled my eyes.

"He's right, Rosalie," Alice echoed from the back.

They just didn't understand, now, did they?

"Shut up," I spat out. "All of you. Just _shut up_."

That silenced their talking, but not the looks that ranged from worried to cynical. But I knew they'd regret those looks on the day that I returned home _human_ while they were still stuck in their vampire bodies because they'd been too late to believe and react.

My eyes wandered to the car we were following, Carlisle's, and saw the stranger's mane staring back at me through the rear window. His hair was a matted brown, and had obviously not been washed for days like the rest of his body. Apart from that little detail, however, I could tell he was a good-looking man. I liked the shape of his nose and mouth—though they didn't fit together at all, the warped shape fascinated me—and I absolutely adored the brown of his eyes. He was so… alive.

Fine, so I couldn't fool myself. The man looked awful, and a bath probably wouldn't change that.

But no matter how he looked or talked or smelled, he _was_ alive.

And that made him beautiful to me.

As I turned my head to the side, the reflection of another pair of eyes jumped back at me from the side mirror. The ocher irises were fixed on the car ahead of us, looking hopeful and unconvinced and pensive all at once.

Jasper was in a whirl of emotion, and this time I was pretty sure it had nothing to do with his powers.

**Carlisle's POV**

I loved how Esme managed to keep her calm in every situation.

When we finally reached our home in north Oregon, the stranger was practically dragged from my back seat to the living room, and every one of my reprimands was ignored. I felt worried—my family seemed to have forgotten that despite his interesting news he was still a human being, and not a newspaper that could be crumpled up and tossed into the corner after use. Whoever this man was, he needed to be treated with the same respect that we usually showed all our guests.

But no one listened.

He was chucked onto a couch and surrounded within seconds of our arrival. I was still in the process of entering the room when I already heard all sorts of questions being flung at him:

"Where were you changed?"

"What's your name?"

_"Where_ were you changed?"

"Did you feel anything during your re-transformation?"

_"Where were you changed?"_

Needless to say, Rosalie's screams were the loudest.

It was only when Esme intervened that I heard the _right_ question asked, the only question that was correct and civil in this situation.

"Can I get you anything?" was Esme's gentle inquiry, followed by a polite smile.

This calmed down the interrogation, and although Rosalie threw her arms into the air and groaned rather loudly, the break was accepted well by the rest of the family.

When the man didn't answer right away, Esme narrowed down his choices.

"We have nothing but tap water."

This made his decision easier.

"Tap water it is, then, Mrs.…?"

"Cullen. But please, call me Esme," my wife answered with another warm smile. She was truly a jewel of the rarest kind.

Eventually, the man received his glass of tap water, and certain bodies were restless again as they waited around the room. Rosalie, of course, was very much on edge, and I could understand Jasper's impatience, too, but I was shocked to see Edward as stressed as he clearly was. There was a strange confusion in his eyes when he looked at our visitor, and his tense pose beside Bella suggested that he was wavering about something. I felt a twinge of sorrow when I realized what it was.

Edward had seemed so content in the last few years that I'd not had a doubt in mind that he had finally found his place in our family. I'd thought—perhaps foolishly—that he'd accepted what we were and made the best out of it.

Had I been too blinded by my own happiness to notice his true state of mind? It grieved me to notice that I'd left my first friend, my first _son_, hanging.

But the moment that thought entered my mind, Edward shook his head furiously and looked at me with meaningful intensity. His eyes were apologetic, but there was no accusation there. I sighed and smiled at him, letting him know that I understood. _Of course_ I understood. The man's revelation had brought unpleasant memories back to all of us.

He drank his first cup with eagerness, and then a second, and finally a third. I guessed he hadn't eaten for a long time.

Esme, too, noticed his thirst, and regretted aloud that we stored no food in the house since Renesmee and Jacob had moved out. He waved it off, however, and said: "The Lord nourishes me enough. It is apparent that I have a task to fulfill before I can get to my physical needs."

The little references to God irritated me again, like they had when he'd first spoken at the party. They reminded me, once again, of the fact that our species was found nowhere in the bible. My own Christian faith had left me when I'd noticed this, for what was a God that abandoned a part of his own creation? Not a real one, I was sure.

I reminded myself of my manners, however, and refrained from starting a discussion that would have surely turned into a dispute. Religion was, and had always been, a delicate affair.

"You say you were once a vampire? How long ago?" I asked him, feeling the scientist in me come to life. To my great shame I noticed myself, like the others, considering the man a bit of information, nothing more. I repeated the word "guest" in my mind.

But before I could receive an answer to my basic question, Rosalie was looming over him and spit out one word:

_"Where?"_

"In a motel in Anchorage, Alaska," the man answered, "Just north of the main road."

And in one swift, concurrent motion, two vampires left the room to plot their chase upstairs.

I sighed. Anchorage was about to become a very central point of North America indeed.

**Tanya's POV**

"Can you believe the guy's nerves?" I asked my sisters, irritated beyond belief.

What right had he to ruin our party? World-altering revelations were _the_ ultimate atmosphere-killers.

And what was worse, I seemed to be the only one whom this little detail bothered. The others, especially Kate, were far-away in their own thoughts as they helped me clean up, and I had a worrying notion about what those thoughts might contain.

"Don't blame him," Carmen reprimanded me. "It would be egotistical of us to think about our party when there might be other, more important issues ahead."

"Troubles, pah! That man was crazy, and that's all the Cullens will find out about him. Really, all this panic for nothing at all!"

"So you think he was never a vampire?"

I gave Kate my best you-can't-be-serious look.

She stopped arranging tables and crossed her arms.

"Don't be stupid, Tanya. Think about it. Do you really think it was a coincidence that a man ran into the one house that was full of real vampires to talk about once being one himself? A lunatic wouldn't have known where to go."

"So? Maybe he wasn't a lunatic," I answered indifferently. "Maybe he knew about vampires. Maybe he just lied that he'd been one of us to save his dear life."

Carmen looked up from the far corner of the room where she'd been quietly discussing something with Eleazar.

"Did you see Edward's face? He _wasn't_ lying."

I rolled my eyes. Why had everyone suddenly become insane? After the Cullens had left half the room had emptied in just a few seconds, some not even bothering to say goodbye. As if that wasn't enough to endure, I now also had to listen to my own sisters discussing the truth of the man's words. Only Garrett was unaffected by the thought of becoming human, but worried about the Volturi instead, and how they would react if they heard about a human talking about vampires. To me, too, that seemed to be the bigger worry than whether what he said was true.

"Why did Carlisle get to take him home?" Kate asked at some point. "I know he's our friend and all, but this is just going too far. He doesn't own us. Or has he suddenly become the king of America?"

I hissed at her.

"We do not talk about the Cullens like that! We owe them more than we can ever pay back, and if you ask me, it was a perfectly good choice to let the man go with them. I understand your agitation to some level, but I will end that understanding if it turns out to be poisonous to our friendship!"

"All right, all right. Point taken. There's no need to yell at me," Kate calmed me, taken aback by my sudden outburst. I loved my sister with all my heart, but sometimes she had to be reminded of traits like loyalty and compassion, and I saw it as my job to clarify them to her. Our alliance with the Cullens was more than just for the sake of convenience.

Carmen rolled her eyes and whispered, "Kids."

I took a deep breath, trying to steady my voice. The last few years had been a tough trial for us all, and had therefore taken a toll on all our acquaintances. Some century-long friends had suddenly disappeared, and even the bonds within our coven had experienced some strain. I didn't want to start another fight.

"All right, listen to me, Kate," I started as calmly as I could. "I'm sorry. I just don't like to hear the Cullens talked about like that. We owe them at least some honesty, okay? If you have a problem with them, just say it to their faces, please. Gossip is cowardly and _not_ something good friends do. I'm also pretty sure they'll listen if you find something to criticize. They'll take you seriously."

I was pretty pleased by the way that came out, and Kate seemed to approve of it, too, for she nodded and returned to her work without starting a fit. I smiled, happy to see that some of our sisterly love was still there. All siblings fight sometimes, don't they?

Resigned, Kate continued to work in silence, but then raised her head to make a declaration: "I just wish I knew what was going on, that's all. The Cullens do, and we… don't. I'm not condemning them or anything, but that just doesn't seem fair to me."

I sighed.

"We can always call them, Kate," I reminded her. "They won't hide anything from—"

But before I could finish my sentence, Kate had a phone in her hand and was dialing a familiar number. There were two rings before a man picked up.

"Kate?"

"Hello, Carlisle," Kate said cheerily. "How is the poor man doing?"

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A/N: Don't forget to review! Honestly, they're the only pay I get :)


	3. Love or Humanity?

__Chapter Three__  
_Love or Humanity?_

**Dorothy's POV**

"Umm... Dottie?" Linda approached me carefully, putting aside her mobile phone. "I have some bad news."

I stopped breathing. Bad news were the last thing I needed to hear right now, and certainly not if Linda was the messenger. Though she had immediately understood the danger I was in, she had been so very optimistic, and had promised that things would work out as long as nobody else knew.

So if she was suddenly _not_ optimistic… I knew what that had to mean.

She walked over to the table I was sitting at and took a seat across from mine.

"The man you… healed?" she continued. "He told _everyone_."

Now I sat even stiller than still, and if possible breathing less than before. Jerry, that silly, self-assured man, had done precisely what I'd feared he would. Yes, I'd known he wouldn't be silent about "a miracle of God", but I'd refused to accept that he would do such an irrational thing. Now it pained me to hear that he hadn't thought about what _I_ wanted.

It meant he put God before me. My chest stung.

But even with that ache, there was still the desperation. I was scared—no, frightened—and I was all alone. Well, almost alone. I had Linda. And God, of course. The question was could I trust either of them to save me?

I found my voice again and whispered: "What now?"

Linda shook her head.

"I don't know, Dottie," she answered. "All I can say is that you're now the most wanted vampire in the entire world."

**Carlisle's POV**

Word of the "miracle" had spread like wildfire.

When I'd told Kate of what the man had revealed, I hadn't thought that I was actually stirring an international hunt. I'd assumed the Denali clan would treat the information with care, and would therefore keep it to themselves. But that hadn't been the case, and now the whole world knew.

All I could guess was that Kate had told someone else, and that that _someone_ had consequently spread the news to their friends, who had then proceeded to tell _their_ friends. And with the scarce vampire population of the world, it hadn't taken long for the information to travel. I doubted there was a nomad in Africa who hadn't somehow come in touch with the name of Miss Dorothy Mace.

This course of events was highly upsetting, but it was merely the base of other troubles that soon followed. Dorothy Mace was only one single person, and the information we had about her was very limited. Jerry—as we'd discovered the man's name to be– could only relay his own experience with her, and there was no knowing what boundaries this amazing power might have. It was possible that the trick couldn't be repeated, or that only a restricted number of healings could be done. By the looks of it, this Dorothy hadn't even an idea of how she'd done it herself, and wouldn't be able to do it again.

This all was acknowledged by the vampire population, and this all made it crucial for everyone to hurry.

My family wasn't immune to the agitation, either. Rosalie and Jasper had locked themselves upstairs for hours, refusing to come down to discuss the issue in peace. I worried that I'd caused a rip in my own family, and that we'd soon be scattered all over the world looking for a woman who may or may not make us fall more apart. I didn't know what was worse—a family member eventually finding Dorothy and becoming human again, or seeing everyone search for her until the end of time, never uniting again.

At three o'clock in the morning, Esme sought me in my study and covered my hands with her own. I saw a guilty hope in her eyes, and heard an even guiltier tone in her voice as she informed me of their plans.

"They want to go after her."

Although I'd already known it, the words hit me like a meteorite.

In my head, I could see my family scattered across all seven continents, eternally searching for something that could not be found.

**Rosalie's POV**

"Honey, are you absolutely positive about this?"

I threw another t-shirt into my small bag and sighed. Emmett was _not_ helping.

We could only take the most necessary items with us. I'd already calculated how much space we would have, and decided on two pairs of trousers, two jumpers, and two tops each. But would we need any spare underwear? They didn't take up much space, and the bag still had some room. At least two pairs per person would be sensible, just in case—_ahem_—something happened.

"Honey –"

"Yes!" I hissed at Emmett. "Yes, I'm sure! Now stop buggering me with your questions."

Why was he being so damn _stupid_ about this? Did Emmett not see how much this chase would mean to me? Did he not see what an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity this was? It went beyond my comprehension.

"I'll go change my shoes downstairs," I continued. "The bag is almost full, but I'm sure you can still fit something small in it. And no, your PS3 doesn't count as small, Emmett."

Though I really did need to change my shoes—stilettos were not ideal running equipment—I really just wanted to escape Emmett's looks. He was so worried for no reason, and it both pained and irritated me to see him this anxious about me. Of course it was lovable and all that, but really, it was not what I needed.

What I wanted and needed was to find Dorothy Mace, and for now, all other issues would be put to the side.

So I left Emmett to frown in our bedroom, and rushed to the long hallway, thinking of family and fulfillment, when abruptly, I bumped into something with a loud crash.

I staggered back half a step to find and unsmiling Edward standing firmly in front of me, his arms crossed and eyes boring holes into mine.

I glowered.

_"What?"_

His expression didn't shift as he asked: "Are you sure, Rosalie? Of all this?"

Exasperated, I threw my arms in the air.

"Yes, _yes_, I'm sure! What is it with all of you? Stop treating me like some dumb five-year-old, for God's sake, I know what I'm –"

But Edward ignored me and interrupted my ranting. He hesitated a little, but then dropped his arms and quietly said: "Take me with you."

I stared at him in shock.

**Bella's POV**

When Edward returned, he was wearing an unfamiliar expression on his face that, strangely, made me shudder.

"What?" I asked. "What did she say?"

Edward didn't even glance at me as he picked up a backpack from the corner of our room and said: "We're going with them."

I didn't move to help him pack. I didn't even say anything when he started to pick up random clothes from our closet. I just stared at him in despair.

Finally, after two excruciating minutes, I found my voice again.

"When?" I tried to sound casual, as if the information didn't matter to me, but cringed when I heard the betraying panic that had leaked into my voice.

But Edward didn't seem to notice.

"Tonight. Is there anything specific you'd like to take with you?"

Tonight. So I didn't even have any time to digest the news.

"No, nothing. Take whatever you want."

Edward hurried around the room for an additional few minutes, and then moved downstairs to see if there was anything there that we would need. I didn't budge when he whizzed past me.

Tonight, Edward and I were going after a woman who'd give us what I thought we both could do without. We were practically racing after our humanity.

I trembled.

How had it come to this?

* * *

A/N: This chapter is a little shorter than the rest, but now the story can _really_ begin :D Please don't forget to **review**!


	4. Bribes and Death Threats Put to Action

__Chapter Four__  
_Bribes and Death Threats Put to Action_

**Emmett's POV**

I was starting to seriously worry about Rosalie.

"What do you mean you don't know where she went?" she spat at the motel manager, who was looking at her in a mixture of boredom and disbelief. Rosalie's expression was wild, almost lethal.

Somewhere behind us, Edward murmured Rosalie's name in an effort to remind her of her manners. It didn't do much good.

Tiredly, the manager answered: "Look, if you don't have a warrant or anything, I can't give out any information. Besides, she never mentioned where she was heading."

Rosalie was angrier now, and I felt desolate when I realized that her anger was the mere by-product of ardent despair. I felt a sudden urge to throw my arms around her in consolation, to kiss her face until she was consumed by pleasure, or at least to remind her of how I would always love Rosalie without a shadow of doubt no matter what mythical or not-so-mythical creature she was, but quickly discarded that thought—after all, I did want to keep my arms connected to my body.

"Come one, I'm sure you know _something_. Is money what you need? I can give you money!" Rose pulled out some bills from her pocket and started counting them. "How much?"

Rosalie staggered the man for good when she finally slapped a generous-looking roll of hundred dollar bills onto the table and raised her eyebrows in silent question.

Well, at least bribes were better than death threats.

The manager looked at the money greedily, wavering, but finally sighed. When he once again worded his refusal, he looked more genuinely apologetic than at any other point of our interrogation.

"I wish I could tell you something, but I can't. I don't know where she went."

My wife measured his expression for a moment, glanced shortly at Edward, and then let out one long groan.

A look that almost bordered pain came across the manager's face when Rosalie snatched away the money. She balled her hand into a fist, and I heard the delicate paper crumple inside her grasp. Well, that money couldn't be used for bribing anymore. Poor Benjamin Franklin. His portrait probably resembled a piece of gnawed chewing gum by now.

Very, very carefully, I put a hand on Rosalie's shoulder and gently told her to calm down.

She hissed.

The manager grumbled something under his breath that included the words "insane" and "mental institution", and finally decided that he wasn't going to be earning any money if he stayed any longer. He turned and disappeared into the office behind the front desk, telling a security guard there to "watch out for those lunatics".

I quickly drew my hand away from my wife when I heard her growl noticeably. Rosalie's temper was a tricky affair, and you had to be tactful in order to preserve your life around her. She was like a little kitten—incredibly cute and soft and cuddly, but blessed with a set of sharp teeth and an equally sharp temper that she would not attempt to reel in. My little kitty-Rosy.

That thought would have been awfully funny if it wasn't for the fact that she was truly hurting now, although she tried not to show that pain by hiding it behind her anger.

Jasper, who was the only one apart from me who dared to stand in Rosalie's vicinity, cursed under his breath and unintentionally sent a wave of frustration across the room. From my peripheral vision I saw Edward look up at the ceiling and close his eyes.

"What now?" Jasper asked. "This motel was our only lead."

Rosalie snarled quietly. "I know what we'll do. We go back home, seek that Jerry guy out again, and then torture him until he releases more information. Who's with me?"

But before anyone could answer—and Jasper sure looked like he was _with her_—Alice butted in.

"Absolutely not. We promised not to use any violence."

I looked at my family that was scattered around the motel lobby. We sure were a sight with our traveling gear and exasperated faces, and I instantly felt a pang of love for each of them—my big-little brother Edward, the hilarious Bella, my wrestling partner Jasper, and of course little Alice, who awakened an unneeded protective instinct inside everyone she ever met. I thought of my parents back home—Esme and her all-enduring affection, and Carlisle and his fatherly presence.

And then there was always my Rose who, at that moment, looked more like a maniac killer than a graceful rose.

A _hot_ maniac killer, mind you.

But as I felt the pang of love, I also felt a pang of sadness. Who knew how long this family life would last when we had other options to consider? Options that made everything feel like a waste to me.

"Maybe we should give up," Bella suggested, sounding a little too hopeful. The only answer she got was a snarl from Rosalie.

I expected Edward to scold Rosalie about snarling at his wife, but to my great surprise he ignored it and said: "This is pointless. The manager really doesn't know anything."

"So then what?" Rosalie hissed again. "I am _not_ just giving up."

She shot a noxious glare at Bella.

Edward just shook his head, and then abruptly froze. His wide eyes stared at the office door before us.

Instinctively, we all turned our gazes there, and it wasn't long until we heard some talking.

"Jennifer, dear, will you cover me for half an hour? I need to take a break."

"Sure, Jeff. Just come back when you're ready."

"I swear, this city's turning into a setting from _Psycho_ or something. Remind me to never allow pretty, pale-faced girls into my motel again. They bring nothing but trouble."

"What d'ya mean?"

"Those people were the _third _lunatics asking after Dorothy Mace today. I'm starting to think we should call the police. Who knows what mafia she's running away from. They were all so pale and gorgeous, you know, I think they're family. Anyway, those freaks give me the shivers."

A door slammed shut behind the closed office door, followed by a long sigh from Jennifer.

We all fell silent.

Silent apart from one graceful word from Rosalie.

"Crap," she cursed under her breath.

**Kate's POV**

I studied the map, staring at the road names as if they could somehow give me the answers I so desperately needed.

"Maybe we should go back to the motel?" Tanya suggested beside me, tapping the wheel impatiently while waiting for the traffic lights to change.

"Pointless," I told her. "He didn't know anything."

We were at a dead end. Things hadn't gone as we'd expected. We'd been so eager, so wound-up when we'd left home; that we hadn't considered the possibility of _not_ finding what we were looking for. We'd assumed that it would be easy to find the motel, extract the information from the manager, and then continue our chase with new leads.

Now we were simply stuck.

"Hey, let's think positive," Garrett said cheerfully from the backseat. "Nobody can know any more than we do. _Everyone's_ stuck on square one."

Tanya and I both mumbled a "Not helping" and continued to scrutinize the map.

However, what Garrett said was true. It was relieving to know that nobody had gotten any further on this chase than we had, and at least we still had the same chances to find the girl as everyone else. My biggest fear was that someone would find her before us, and use up all her powers before we'd reach the scene. _That_ would be even more irritating than not finding her at all.

That there were other vampires looking, we could say for sure. The motel lobby had practically reeked of them, and we'd seen some red-eyed nomads wandering down deserted streets, the sudden escalation of the non-vegetarian vampire populace no doubt decreasing the small city's population count considerably. Though we'd had a head start to the Cullens because we lived nearer to Anchorage than they did, we didn't have so much of an advance to the nomads who were always traveling around this area. This also worried me—what if one of them found something out, and then killed their source of information? We _had to_ come up with it before they did.

I stared another set of holes into the map.

_Where are you!_ I screamed at it mentally. _Tell me where Dorothy Mace is!_

"Should we check the other motels?" Tanya was clutching at straws, and she knew it.

Nevertheless, I went with it and shook my head.

"No, that would be a stupid move from her side if she knows she's on the run. It's much more likely that she left town."

"By train?" Tanya said, pointing at a railway station that was drawn into the map.

"It's worth a shot."

Tanya pressed down on the gas pedal, and within just two minutes we were on the other side of town, parked in front of a medium-sized dull railway station.

We got out of the car, Garrett swinging his arm around me as soon as we were out, and walked to the ticket office that lay adjacent to the parking lot. Tanya asked about Dorothy Mace.

"Dorothy Mace?" the stout woman on the other side of the glass repeated. "Hmmm… I think I've heard that name somewhere. One second."

Not even stopping to consider whether she was allowed to give out information like this, the woman adjusted her thick-rimmed glasses and typed something into an antiquated computer.

"Dorothy Mace… Ah, yes, now I remember! She was here the other day. She had shoulder-length black hair and really fair skin, just like you. Are you related? Anyhow, she bought a ticket to… let me see… to Vancouver. She should have arrived there by now. Do you want to buy a ticket to there? I can give you a great discount that would really make the journey worthwhile for you. Oh, wait, you came by car so—"

Before the woman could finish what she was saying, all three of us were hurrying back to said car.

And though I was no mind-reader, I knew what thought we were all reveling in.

_Eureka._

**The Manager's POV**

In all my years as a motel manager, some pretty weird and frightening people had crossed my way. I'd had to call the police a multiple times, and I'd certainly felt afraid for my life more than once. But this Dorothy Mace business was slowly starting to turn from a precarious situation into a constant source of annoyance.

After all, how on earth was I supposed to remember where exactly all my guests were going? Most of them I hardly exchanged a word with, and this Dorothy had been no different. Sure, I remembered her—insane beauty was not something that was likely to slip my mind—but the only thing she'd ever said to me was a polite "Thank you" when I'd handed her the keys.

And now people were basically flocking my lobby, all wanting to know where Dorothy Mace had gone to.

They sure as hell weren't policemen. If there was criminal activity involved, the police was most probably completely oblivious about it. Well, that could change. I lifted the phone receiver and began dialing the familiar number.

I'd only gotten to the first two digits, though, when my head snapped up at the sound of the door jingle. I groaned and laid down the receiver. I contemplated not greeting the new visitors at all, but rejected that thought—I had a few empty rooms and quite a number of unpaid bills. Maybe this time I would finally get lucky and the guests would be real customers.

Sure, as if I ever got lucky. The instant I walked into the lobby I recognized the pale, intimidating beauty in their faces, and braced myself for another rebuke.

Or, more correctly, I _tried_ to brace myself.

The people—_were_ they even people?—who walked into my motel now were slightly different from the rest. Yes, they had the same white skin, and yes, they were beautiful, but it was their size that shocked me the most. These two were barely teenagers.

The little brown-haired girl and her equally small companion smiled widely at the sight of me, and gracefully glided over to my desk.

"Are you the manager of this motel?" the girl asked, her childlike, high soprano tinkling in the air.

I knew what the next question would be, but answered in an affirmative, anyway. My thoughts were too incoherent to form a more useful response.

"My brother and I are looking for someone. A… friend, you could say. Her name is Dorothy Mace. Do you, by any chance, know where she may have gone after she left your motel?"

I shook my head, irritated again, and answered in a firmer tone: "I don't know anything about her at all! Ask your friends—they've already looked here. I'm sorry."

But instead of accepting my answer and walking away, the young girl and her brother simply smiled and took a small step closer. Their smiles made my blood curl.

"Oh, I'm sure you know _something_, Sir," the girl urged on.

"No, I don't," I retorted, and this time the venom made it into my tone. "I don't know anything. Now please leave before I call the police. I—"

I didn't even have time to turn around or scream.

All I could feel was fire shooting through my body.

* * *

_A/N:_ I need to address an issue that some reviewers have been bringing up: religion. I know this story contains a lot of religious -- and especially Christian -- meditations. I also understand how touchy the subject is. What I'd like to assure everyone is that I am absolutely neither praising nor criticizing any religion here. The thoughts about God (including the doubts, praises, etc.) are not my own but my characters'. When Dorothy is thinking about God, I am writing from Dorothy's point of view, not mine. I hope everyone can enjoy the story as what it is -- a story, and not an essay about religion.

Phew, that was a long note. Sorry for the lecture, but it had to be said.

**Review?** Your opinion is highly valued here :)


	5. Conditional Love

__Chapter Five__  
_Conditional Love_

**Tanya's POV**

"You've got to turn left here, Kate."

She kept driving straight ahead, and I wondered if she'd heard me. I'd never had to wonder about that before.

"Umm… Kate? To the left."

But, driving a hundred miles an hour, we zoomed past the crossing that would have taken us closer to Vancouver, and instead took a bumpy road that led to God knows where. I raised my eyebrows at my sister—who, of course, didn't seem to notice me—and then turned to look at Garrett. He was staring at Kate fearfully, which was a highly unusual emotion for him to feel.

"Honey, are you all right? If you're intending to go on an outing, you know I won't mind." Garrett paused and then flashed Kate one of his boyish grins. "Let's go to Texas. I've always wondered what camel tastes like."

At least _someone_ was acting normal in all this craziness. I nearly sighed in relief.

I'm sure Kate would have laughed, too, were she her normal self, but as things were, she hardly noticed Garrett's lovable attitude and argued: "There are no camels in America, _idiot_."

"Kate!" I exclaimed in surprise. I could understand that she was stressed out, and I could even understand any annoyance she might feel towards _me_, but why attack Garrett, the lovable and hilarious Garrett, who was only trying to cheer up his beloved mate? I admit, I'd never had a steady boyfriend so I really couldn't say, but from all the love I'd seen during my long life I'd come to the conviction that being rude to your admirer was equal to a human sticking a knife into his own beating heart, or a bird ripping out its wings in mid-air. Even the laws of physics stated that, eventually, gravity would take you down.

In Kate's favor, I had to say that she, too, seemed upset by what she had emitted, and apologized before Garrett had any time to form a grudge. Not that he would have, of course—Garrett was pretty much the most non-resentful person I knew. Now, too, he only smiled and accepted her apology without further ado.

Cupid had sure done a fine job there. I wondered if he'd find someone for me, someone who'd fit me as well as Garrett fitted Kate…

I shook my head. Really, staying with one man alone had to be quite tiring. Where was all the excitement in having sex with the same old person every night? What did you do once you got bored? Would the man adore you forever, or quit seeing you that way after the first century? Seriously, why should anyone even bother?

It was only when another huge bump momentarily sent the car flying that I realized which way we were still going.

"Kate, you missed the crossing—"

"Yes!" she cried out. "I noticed!"

The car whirled up a cloud of dirt as it made a strict U-turn on the muddy forest road.

I looked at Kate again, wondering if I should offer to drive. There was a hazardously large amount of trees around us, and though we'd never been in a car accident, I seriously doubted my sister would notice another car in the state she was in.

But as I caught a glimpse of Kate's expression, I saw something so determined, so _crazed_ in her eyes that I started at the sight of it. In my mind, the passing car from the hypothetical accident turned into a truck.

Garrett wasn't oblivious to Kate's mental condition either, but he seemed to think it best to ignore it, like was usually his way. Instead, he pointed at the cell phone that was balanced between our two seats and asked: "Shouldn't we inform the Cullens of our lead?"

Suddenly the car accelerated to an alarming speed that surely wasn't doing any good to the engine. I started feeling sorry for the poor trees, and then for myself when I realized what would happen if the engine broke down. We were in the middle of a mud-spattered forest, and I had my favorite sandals on. There was no way on earth I was going to _run_ all the way to Vancouver out here. Dust and wet dirt did miracles when you wanted to permanently destroy your shoes.

"Call the Cullens? _Why?_" Kate spat out.

"Because that would be fair. They told us what they knew; we should return the favor."

"Forget it. Can you imagine what would happen if Rosalie got to her first? Do you honestly think anyone else would ever even see that woman again?"

"Don't be ridiculous! Rose will share."

"You sure?" Kate rejoined in a mocking tone. The car slowed down a touch, but still continued to run amok over the thankfully lonely forest landscape.

For the second time that week, I found myself angry at Kate. She had no right to behave like this, and certainly no reason to scorn our long-time friends, the Cullens. I was starting to think that this chase really wasn't worth it. Did I want to be human again if that would mean a break in all of my family bonds? I wasn't too sure.

I had to save what I could. If my best friends were all I could keep, I would seize the opportunity.

"We're informing the Cullens, Kate. And that decision is_ final_."

She huffed, but made no move to stop me when I reached out for the phone.

**Bella's POV**

"Let's go back and look for her scent. It hasn't rained since she left, so there must be something that will indicate what direction she headed. In case of necessity, we can break into their room and search there for clues."

"Forget it. The room is occupied again—if they really were careless enough to leave something there—which, by the way, sounds pretty far-fetched to me—the new guests would have brought it to the reception. And I'm telling you, that man knew nothing."

"Well, we have nothing better to do _here_. Why don't we give it a shot?"

"Oh please, Rosalie. You know as well as I do that it would be pointless to return to the motel. Instead of wasting our time, as you suggest, we should try to think of something more effective to do."

"Do you think sitting around doing nothing is effective? Wow, I wonder why you were alone for so long, Edward. We girls just _love_ sloths, you know. The good-for-nothing-ness really turns us on."

I sighed inertly and sunk onto the bed beside Emmett, who had been silently laying there on his stomach for nearly half and hour now. He looked as uninterested as I was and gave me a half-hearted smile when our eyes met. It broke my heart to see my goofy big brother so dismayed, giving me another reason to hate everything about our little hunt. Honestly, what good had it done to anyone? Rosalie was constantly in a foul mood, Edward hardly spoke to me at all, Jasper was positively terrifying with his extreme resolve, and now even Emmett, the always sanguine Emmett, was failing to see anything funny or even _positive_ about the ongoing conversation.

I tried to lighten him up by quietly commenting: "I think Rosalie's gonna blow soon." I admit, it wasn't very funny, but what other joke could I make? I saw nothing funny about anything anymore.

Emmett chuckled politely—_politely_ being the key word—and looked down at his hands that were fidgeting with a corner of the thick bedspread. I could see a few unironable wrinkles already forming.

The arguing on the other side of the room was growing more and more frantic. It was mainly Jasper versus Rosalie, though Edward got his say in frequently enough too. The subject of their quarrel seemed to have moved from the motel to Richard again, and now that that idea had been discarded, Carlisle was the next proposal in line.

"He'll know what to do, Rosalie. He always does," Edward argued, always loyal to his father.

"Don't make me laugh. I'm here, aren't I? If Carlisle had good judgment, he would have let me be all those years ago. Wake up, Edward!"

"Don't blame this on him!"

"Why shouldn't I? It's _his_ fault!"

"Ugh, how can you be so ungrateful and selfish?"

"How can _you_ be so blind?"

"You…"

I sighed for the twenty-fourth time in twenty-four hours. Once Edward and Rosalie got going there was no stopping them, especially now that they were already efficiently heated up. The insults that flew back and fourth would have made excellent comedy if it weren't so darn pitiable.

"…You know what, Edward? You can just go to hell. And take your oh-so-wonderful wife and daughter with you, if you could be so kind."

"Keep them out of this."

"Touchy, touchy. I think you're trying to mislead me. I can imagine you being a little nervous about _my_ future children. What if Nessie wasn't the most perfect soul out there anymore? Ouch, that would hurt…"

"Slow down, Rosalie. Nessie will always be Nessie, no matter how many children you _might_ have _if _we ever find Dorothy. Besides, I think you're just worried about yourself. I can't wait to see how fat and ugly you'll be after bearing a dozen little naggers that'll ruin your body and keep you up all night. Don't come running to me for help. _I_ won't be your babysitter."

Now the argument had finally reached a level that actually hurt.

"Shut up, both of you!" I screamed at them, almost jumping out of my skin in rage.

I felt my chest sting along with my eyes that were struggling to let out tears that couldn't be cried. My hands clenched into fists as I tried to somehow manage the angry sorrow.

How could they be such idiots? Surely the pale man who was now holding my shoulders couldn't be my Edward, the man I'd married so many years back in the promise of eternal love. There was more of him there now as he cradled me softly against his chest, whispering reassurances in my ear, but where had he been a minute ago?

"Don't talk like that, please," I rasped out. The image of a tired, wide-hipped Rosalie with worry-wrinkles adorning her once pretty face hurt much more than I'd expected. That wasn't the Rosalie I knew. That wasn't my sister.

From over Edward's shoulder, I saw said sister cross her arms. Rosalie had always been colder and more distant than the rest of the family, but never as drastically as this. Now there was _no_ emotion on her face. Not even annoyance.

"We'll go back to the motel," Edward finally declared. His hand glided down my cheek, and I tried my best to smile.

Rosalie rolled her eyes. "Hallelujah."

After a moment of stillness, all of us finally started to unfreeze and were about to go when a loud ring interrupted our departure.

It was Rosalie's cell phone.

She groaned, but dug it out from the very bottom of her bag and answered. The speaking on the other side of the line began directly after the first "Hello."

By the time the caller finished Rosalie's eyes were no longer emotionless. Well, if you can call madness an emotion, that is.

"Are you sure? We love you, Tanya, we really do."

While everyone filed out quickly to the car, Emmett and I lingered back for one additional second. We exchanged one meaningful look, and then Emmett stated: "I don't want a wrinkled, old Rosalie."

I couldn't agree more.

**Dorothy's POV**

I looked out of the window at the sunny street, being careful to stay in the darkness of the shadows.

There was an elderly lady below the apartment. She walked down the street slowly, painfully slowly, and I wondered for a moment whether I should go downstairs to help her. But there were two things stopping me—firstly the unforgiving sun, and secondly my own binding fear.

What if that elderly lady wasn't really an elderly lady? What if she was a vampire in disguise? What if she _was_ an elderly lady, but had been hired by some vampire to spy on me?

What if she could _see_ me?

I pulled away from the window, and with one swift motion I closed the heavy curtains. But apart from being swift, the motion was also a little too hasty, for with one loud _rip_, a big, wide hole emerged in the middle of the fabric. Some sunlight leaked through and hit my skin, throwing rainbows on the darkened walls around the window.

Linda rushed in to inquire after the source of the strange noise. Her expression went from worried to a short bout of irritation at the sight of her ruined curtain, but that emotion was quickly replaced by indulgence. She walked over to me and took the curtain from my hands, assessing the damage.

"Nothing that some sewing won't fix," she finally concluded. She reached up to loosen the binds that held the curtain in place.

"Here, let me take this down so I can –"

_"No!"_

Linda recoiled from me and growled impulsively.

"The...the sun…It'll…You can't…" I stuttered, trying to calm my breathing. In my mind, the old lady from the street below glowered at me menacingly.

What had Linda once said? She'd claimed that if I made my own thoughts less scary, I wouldn't feel so worried half the time. But even when I made my grandma-of-death lift her walking stick and swear at me in a comical attitude, I couldn't wipe the menace from her eyes.

"It's sunny outside," I finally managed to say, hoping that the excuse sounded less feeble in her ears than in mine.

By the look on Linda's face, however, I knew it was a false hope.

"Are you all right?" she asked me, laying a consoling hand on my shoulder.

I shook my head in defeat.

"Linda, Linda, please help me! I don't know…"

I could have sworn that I was on the verge of tears, though none came out at all.

Lord, help me!

"Dottie, darling, calm down," Linda said, trying to pull me into an awkward embrace. I wasn't the type for physical contact—how did hugging ever help anyone?

"I know you're scared. You have all the reason to be. But don't despair, all right? God will take care of you." She was silent for a moment, and then took a step back with a completely new expression on her face.

"I have an idea!" she announced expectantly. "There's an empty storage house in the woods not far from here. It's remote, but still close enough to town…"

I thought about it for a moment. Though the idea of a large, vacant storage house sounded pretty spooky to me, I couldn't help but admit that it was better than staying here at my friend's house, no matter how much more secure it seemed.

If I went there by car and hid my scent…

I could survive a few months on my own, right? Besides, Linda could always visit me. The plan wouldn't be half as scary when put into action.

So I bit down on my lip—probably adding another worry line to the scarred surface there—and nodded.

And then I prayed.

* * *

A/N: Penny for your thoughts!! :)


	6. Snakes in Vancouver

__Chapter Six__  
_Snakes in Vancouver_

**Emmett's POV**

My thumb twitched above the numbers of my cell phone.

Why couldn't they make the games any more difficult? Or at least a little faster?

I'd been playing "Snake" ever since we'd left the hotel fifteen minutes ago, and the line on the tiny screen was still no longer than it was in the beginning. The snake moved frustratingly slow—really, even humans couldn't be _that_ dim—and turned with a one-second delay that made the game even more frustrating, though definitely more interesting. The only fun thing about it was judging the moment when I'd have to click the number 6 button in order to get the snake to turn in time.

But I was a fast learner. My timing was already absolutely perfect.

Gosh, why hadn't I taken my PSP with me when we first left home? This game required patience, which I didn't have, and slow reflexes, which I certainly didn't possess.

I would have let the snake crash into a wall if it weren't for the disgrace of giving up.

"Crap!" I cursed when Rosalie made a sudden turn and I clicked the button one millisecond too early.

"Put that thing away, will you?" my wife demanded, her voice so lovingly irritable that I just had to smile.

"Just two more minutes, hon. I have three levels to go!"

"Well turn down the sound a little," she spat. "_Before_ I get a headache, please."

Oops. I hadn't even noticed the little "ding-dong-ding" that sounded from the tiny loudspeakers of my cell phone.

But now that I'd heard it, I had to admit the sound _was_ a little annoying. So I clicked on options and muted all sounds.

"Thank you," Edward sighed in relief from the backseat. I glanced over my shoulder to look at him.

"You're welcome."

He didn't respond to my grin in more than a brief frown.

"Put the _whole_ damn thing away, Emmett! We know you can beat all the levels, okay? You don't have to prove anything," Rosalie demanded again. I grimaced.

That's when Bella stepped in on the small argument.

"Give him a break, Rosalie. It's no wonder he's bored. No offense, but you're not really interesting to talk to at the moment."

"What is there to say?" Rosalie said matter-of-factly, as if our boredom was our own fault.

I glimpsed at Bella and met her eye. I'd always loved my little sis, but lately she'd been growing more and more on me, mostly due to the many sentiments we shared about becoming human. I knew she didn't want to be all clumsy and mortal again. And neither did I.

Nobody else seemed to understand the beauty of being a vampire.

"You'll change your mind," Edward suddenly resounded from the back. "It's been a long while since any of us was human. You've forgotten how it was."

Right. I knew my memories of my past life were very narrow compared to the rest of my family, but I had spent enough time around humans to know what it was like. They tripped and hurt themselves and complained and gave up—where was the advantage in that?

"They're human, Emmett."

Wasn't that precisely my point? It was as if the word "human" alone was enough to explain the greatness of being mortal.

Edward leaned forward on his seat.

"They get married. They have children. They grow old. They _die_."

"Hey, vampires get married too!" I argued. Vampires were perfectly capable of family life. And as for the last two points… well, why on earth would I want to grow old and die?

Edward didn't say it, but I knew what he was thinking.

_Salvation._

The question was: would becoming human again erase the sins we'd committed as vampires? Would simply the fact that we were mortal again atone for the far longer time that we'd spent as killers?

"I don't know, Emmett, I don't know," Edward murmured. His voice betrayed his sadness.

I sighed. Edward had always been worried about afterlife, and now that death was _almost_ attainable for him, his worries seemed to have redoubled. I understood his qualms to some extent, although I had never been much of a God person. But even with the knowledge of his issues with salvation, I couldn't help thinking that Edward was being a little selfish about this all. Regarding Bella, I mean.

We'd both been dragged on this chase against our better judgment. I knew why I was here—Rosalie had always hated being a vampire, and I knew no force on earth could stop her from reaching her goal now that she knew it existed. I could either go with her or stay behind—it didn't matter. She'd go on the hunt with or without me. And as sad as that made me, I also understood.

Rosalie… well, she was Rosalie. She wanted mortality more than she wanted me. She'd always made a point out of making that fact clear to me.

But Edward didn't just want mortality—he wanted Bella, too. He'd _promised_ her eternity.

I waited for Edward to respond to my thoughts, but when after a few seconds he still hadn't answered, I turned around to see whether he was too sad to do so. But instead of finding a miserable, guilt-wrecked Edward in the backseat, I found a marble statue that was staring out of the left window in shock.

"Edward?" Bella, oblivious to my side of the conversation, was shaking her husband's arm. "What's wrong, Edward?"

I followed my brother's gaze, wondering what could possibly have caught his immediate attention like this, and almost gasped when I saw the building on the other side of the street.

It was the motel.

Bella and Rosalie had noticed it too and were now looking at Edward, one in concern, the other in acute anticipation.

"What did you hear, Eddie?" I asked, trying to loosen the tension. Nobody paid attention.

Finally Edward leaned back, a look of utter alarm across his face. His eyes were glazed over and he instinctively put a protective arm around Bella, the motion making me automatically do the same to Rose.

"Listen," he told us.

Rosalie slowed the car down and we all pricked up our ears. It wasn't long until we heard two unfamiliar voices that unmistakably belonged to vampires:

"Someone was here before us."

"They must have disposed of the witness before he could share his information with anyone else."

"Well, it's a darn shame for us… what are we going to do now?"

That was the end of the brief conversation.

It must have been something world-alteringly shocking and new, but the problem was that I just didn't get it.

"Eddie?" I finally asked when nobody seemed inclined to explain.

Edward put his arms tightly around Bella and kissed her hair.

"The manager was murdered, Emmett," was his grim answer.

It looked like things were getting heated.

**Kate's POV**

"What? You're not seriously suggesting we should just _wait_ here, are you?"

I glared at my sister, feeling my fingertips tingle. The temptation to zap her was strong—wrong, but strong. I could practically see mortality slipping past my fingers.

"Look, what else can we do, Kate?" Tanya retorted. "So we know she's in Vancouver. Or at least we know she _has been_. Dorothy could be miles away by now, and we don't know where to search next. Maybe the Cullens have more information."

I nearly roared out in rage.

We were so close, _so close_, that I could almost see my eyes brown again—the real brown, and not this horrendous ocher that marked what I'd become. We hadn't met a single nomad on the way here, which meant that we'd gotten further than anyone else so far. If we found her now, we would be the first.

And now we were supposed to _wait_?

"Don't be silly," I snapped back at her, ignoring Garrett's hand on my shoulder. "The only reason they're coming here at all is that _we_ gave _them_ the information. How should they know where to look?"

I slammed my car door shut, crossed my arms tightly, and took a step closer to Tanya. It was a cloudy day in the middle of Vancouver and not many people were out on the streets, but the few that were turned around to look at us curiously, probably wondering if we were supermodels or something like that. Or then they were scared of my obvious fury. I didn't really care.

"I say we drag our lazy behinds to every motel in this city and inquire after her!"

"Forget it, Kate! That would take _days_."

"We could try," Garrett offered. I flashed a short-lived smile at him.

Tanya rolled her eyes.

"No. We're waiting for the Cullens. Here. Today."

Her infallible trust in our friends was ridiculous.

I was about to throw another argument at her when I saw her eyes shift to the left to stare at something behind me. I turned around.

Three pairs of blood-red eyes were wandering up the street, the figures leaving wide berths between them and the pedestrians. In their struggle to restrain from their bloodlust they hadn't noticed us yet, and Tanya, Garrett and I ducked back into our car before they were close enough to detect us.

"Nomads," Tanya stated uselessly, as we'd all come to the conclusion already.

A growl built itself up deep in my chest. "This city's getting a little too crowded for my taste."

Tanya stared at me for a second, then glimpsed at Garrett, and finally restarted the engine. She sighed.

"All right. Where do you want to look first?"

I smiled in victory.

"_Traveler's Inn_ just down that road. Hurry!"

**Demetri's POV**

"Yes, yes, Jane, I understood you the first time."

Felix and I were sitting in a small car, driving from Seattle to our destination in Vancouver. We'd arrived on a later plane than the twins and, in some strange bout of good fortune, found that we were closer to the target than Jane was from Alaska. I smiled at that conviction—Jane was too used to being the one to succeed; it was only right that Felix and I should be the ones to reach the prize first this time.

I was on the phone with her, and she was murmuring agitatedly on the other side of the line. Jane didn't like the fact that we were closer to Dorothy than she was.

"Don't do anything without checking with me first, you hear?"

"Loud and clear, Jane."

"We're not the only ones aware of the girl. It's essential that we get there _first_." She said this with some reluctance, clearly not wishing to urge me to hurry.

"I'm not an idiot," I answered curtly, tired of her pretending to be of higher status than me. "Felix and I will be in Vancouver in less than two hours."

"Good."

I hung up on Jane then, and shut off the mobile phone. This wasn't the first mission I was on, and I knew from experience that Jane wasn't the type to leave you to your task if she wasn't in the near vicinity to control your every move.

Felix saw my movement and chuckled, knowing my motive as well as I did. "Jane's a little incensed, isn't she?"

I just shook my head and shared my partner's smile. It felt nice to know that Jane was miles away.

I looked out of the window to watch the blur of green as we drove through another endless forest. North America was beautiful, especially Canada, but I found myself soon hoping to head more to the south where I knew the Cullens lived. For a brief moment—too brief to register inside my brain—I imagined running into Isabella on our pursuit. We hadn't been on the same continent for years, and the sudden proximity brought my fantasies back to life. I imagined her expressive eyes and full lips, so soft and gentle—very kissable, no doubt…

I had to congratulate Edward. He'd seen the beauty in her first, even when she'd been just a little, pathetic human. Bella was quite a catch.

But she was his now, and I didn't think she shared my physical attraction. Sighing, I looked down at the paper in my hands and tried to dispel all thoughts of her that might prove dangerous around Aro. The paper rattled when I unfolded it.

"Do you think she'll be of any use?" I hadn't noticed Felix staring at me. It took me a few moments to realize that he wasn't talking about Bella.

I smiled at him and nodded.

"I have a good feeling about this one."

The little white paper with the address Jane had given me seemed to beam at me from my hands, and I wondered whether the girl we were looking for would really be found there, and whether she really could make us human again. Would Bella find me more attractive once I was mortal? I had no idea, but it was worth a shot.

The address smiled up at me.

_Linda Oakenford  
__2560 Hemlock Street  
__Vancouver_

Oh yes, I definitely had a good feeling about this one.

* * *

_A/N:_ Review? :)


	7. 2560 Hemlock Street

__Chapter Seven__  
_2560 Hemlock Street_

**Rosalie's POV**

"Are you _sure_?"

My foot hovered above the gas pedal, unsure of what to do. Should I accelerate and get to our target on time? Or should I wait and confirm the new information? Speed or security?

I looked back at Edward, who was still staring out of the window in deep concentration. I hated depending on him—on anyone, for that matter—but right now he was the only one with an answer, and perhaps a new plan. Tanya and Kate faded from my mind. They were useless, after all, now that _we_ were in the lead.

"I'm sure. It's her," he finally answered, straining to hear more.

"Well?"

Edward closed his eyes. "Linda Oakenford… 2560 Hemlock Street… Vancouver…"

I made my decision.

I pressed down on the pedal so hard that for a moment I was afraid that I'd broken something inside the engine, and I had to force myself to lift my foot up a little. It would take too long to snatch another car, and we certainly wouldn't find one as fast as my fine-tuned convertible.

So Tanya was right—Dorothy _was_ hiding in Canada. They'd even gotten the city right. For a moment I felt my lips pull back in a snare. They had such a head start!

"They don't know exactly where she's staying, Rosalie," Edward reminded me from behind my seat, no longer as attentive to Bella as he had been a minute ago. Good. We needed to focus.

"They got lucky last time. I don't want to take the risk of that happening again."

At last it was _our_ turn to have some luck! Though we'd been the first to notice the importance of Richard's revelation, and though we'd been the first with all the information, we'd been running in circles for a week already, getting no further than any of the other amateurs who had come to look for Dorothy Mace. We had everything on our side—knowledge, talent, and grit. But despite all those attributes, it was luck again that decided it for us.

Or was it destiny? It could hardly be coincidence that Jane and Alec had been driving on the _exact_ same road as we'd been, thinking of the _exact_ same thing we were looking for. It couldn't be coincidence that it was exactly _then_ that Edward decided to browse through the minds of his surroundings.

Someone up there wanted us to succeed.

That was also why I felt confident that Dorothy_ had_ to be at the given address. Why would God dangle a clue in front of our noses like this, only to reveal it to be a hoax once we reached for it? No, God was cruel, but not _that_ heartless.

Discarding the plan that involved meeting the Denali Coven in the outskirts of town, I began forming a new type of strategy. We had to be fast—Jane and Alec were just mere minutes behind us—and we had to be secretive, unless we wanted the whole vampire world to suddenly show up at Linda Oakenford's door. If we raced there now, I would be human again before midnight…

"Don't get too excited, Rosalie. She might not be there," Edward annoyingly interjected my thoughts again. Why couldn't he mind his own mind?

He sighed. "I'm just trying to spare you from disappointment."

I rolled my eyes mentally and went back to my designs. This time, I wouldn't let her slip away before we got there…

"I don't mean to interrupt," Bella suddenly uttered, looking carefully at Edward in an unmistakable attempt to avoid my gaze, "but shouldn't we tell Tanya and Kate about this?"

I laughed out loud. How could she be so naïve?

Edward seemed less amused by her question, however, and stroked her hair while he answered. "I see what you mean, love, but let us think about this first."

"We are absolutely not going to tell them," I told her firmly, not believing that Edward's overly kind words would have any effect. Bella frowned.

"_Why_ not? They gave us the lead about Vancouver. We wouldn't have ever even bumped into Jane and Alec if it weren't for them. And they're our friends."

"Love," Edward quietly spoke. "I know you feel we owe them something. But we don't."

"How come?"

"We told them everything about Richard's revelation, remember? When they told us about Vancouver, they were only acquitting their debt."

"You can't be serious!" she exclaimed, snatching Edward's hand away from her face. "This isn't about debt and penance! You're supposed to be in league with each other. Not because anyone owes anybody anything, but because that's what friends do. I'm starting to feel like a cold-blooded taxman."

Emmett snorted beside me and extended a hand to the backseat, which Bella then met in a childish high-five.

I sent one frosty stare at him to stop him dead in his tracks. Emmett looked at me sheepishly, trying very hard to look unsettled, but not quite managing to lock away his uneasiness.

"I'm sorry, hon, but I agree with Bella."

"Well, what does Jasper say?" I inquired Edward, who was listening to the car in front of us. I knew who my friends were.

His answer was short and sweet. "He doesn't want to tell them either."

"There you have it," I then told Emmett. "Three against two."

That shut Emmett up, but unfortunately Bella saw the hole in my plan.

"And what does Alice want?"

Edward frowned and did not answer. I sighed. Of _course_ Alice would be on her best friend's side. She always was.

"Carlisle and Esme would want us to tell them too," Bella continued triumphantly, "so I guess the matter is settled."

I snarled at her. What was Bella even doing here if she didn't want to find Dorothy? Why couldn't Edward just leave her home where she couldn't disturb anyone?

"Easy, Rosalie," Edward reprimanded me, instantly protective over his wife again.

I sent another defiant growl through the air in protest, but I knew that I was defeated. Bella had me cornered.

So when the crossroad came, I took the turn that would lead us to the Denali Clan and further away from my only hope of human life.

Curse family! What good had it ever done to me?

**Linda's POV**

My every move was labored as I tidied up the living room.

I knew now was the time to act normal, and that it was times like these that required the familiarity of routines—and yet I found myself exceedingly jumpy, starting at every small noise.

It was ridiculous, I knew. No one had any reason to suspect that I was aware of Dottie's whereabouts, and no one had any cause to look here. I should have been calm, assured, and trustable, but alas, I was not.

I was scared for my life.

Any second someone might barge inside here and demand to know where I'd hidden Dorothy, I thought. And once they started hurting me, would I be able to stand the pain? Dottie was my best friend, but… still, it had been wrong of her to drag me into this mess. If she cared a fig about me, she would have left the country and never contacted me again. But instead she'd come here, begging for my help.

Considering the circumstances, I'd been a good friend. A good Christian. I'd given her the little help I could at the expense of my own safety.

Ah, forgive me, my Lord! My thoughts were inexcusable. How could I, who had been closely acquainted to Dorothy for over fifty years now, think so coldly about her? Of course she'd come to me for help. If I were put in the same position, I would do the same.

It pained me to know what hands Dottie had left her life in. I was so unfit for this task, so wrong to be trusted. I was perfectly aware of my own weaknesses—I was neither courageous nor smart, neither a hero nor a good friend. Why else had I stayed back when Richard and Dorothy decided to travel? I'd turned down an adventure, and had selfishly hoped my best friend would do the same. In fact, I'd _thought _she'd do the same. Dottie had never been one for excitement. But she'd said that God wanted her to follow that man, so she had, and had only visited me occasionally to escape Richard's presence.

Dorothy was very partial to that God-fearing man. She'd never told me directly, of course, but this was something a good friend could tell. It was a pity that it did her more harm than good.

As I picked up another towel from the floor where Dottie had thrown it, I happened to pass a mirror. My reflection immediately caught my attention—initially because the sudden movement alarmed me, and then because of the beautiful woman staring back through the glass, blinking at the same time I did.

I'd never been vain, but my appearance never failed to astonish me. As a human I'd been a gray mouse, never the center of attention. My blonde locks were all I'd had to recommend me, but even they had been a mess more often than an asset. But now my blonde locks were _golden_ ones, and my chubby body was simply a _curved_ one, the way most men liked to see it. My round chin was still round, but even that seemed to fit perfectly into the whole. I was beautiful.

I let my appearance astonish and appease me for a while longer, until suddenly a knock made my eyes shift to the reflection of the door behind me.

_Knock Knock_

The sound waves were almost tangible when they reached me.

I froze.

_Knock Knock_

"We know you're in there, Linda," a male voice declared from behind the door. "Please let us in so we can talk."

Oh, heavenly father, help me!

I tried my best to ignore the calls, unable to think. Somewhere in the far corners of my mind a voice was telling me to run, but I was incapable of any judgment and could only stand still, which was a silly thing of me to do. I was handing myself to them on a plate!

But instead of acting, I did the only thing I knew—I prayed.

_Our Father, who art in heaven,__hallowed be thy Name…_

A prompt, loud crash erupted through the apartment when the uninvited visitors finally broke down my door, and I turned slowly around to face the intruders.

_Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven…_

Two men were staring at me, and I nearly started when I saw their expressions—so calm, so _kind_, almost, that it scared me even more. What was worse: a screaming mob or two composed assassins who would stop at nothing to finish their task?

_Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us…_

And now that it wasn't worth it anymore, I was planning my escape. But I had never been fast, and I had never been agile—these men would catch me before I got to any door or window, or possibly even before I took my first step.

How utterly stupid I had been to stay at home! I should have run the minute Dorothy arrived at my door.

"Hello, Miss Oakenford," the taller vampire greeted me, inching closer and closer as he watched me shiver under his gaze.

"If you have a minute to spare, we would like a word…"

_And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil…_

"Where is Dorothy Mace?"

They towered above me and I shrank to the ground.

_For thine is the kingdom,  
__and the power,  
__and the glory,  
__for ever and ever._

_Amen._

**Bella's POV**

When we reached 2560 Hemlock Street, we found a broken-down door.

I heard several curses and cries of surprise at the sight of it, and I, too, joined in on their rush as they ran inside, doing it more out of self-interest than for concern for the stranger. How could Rosalie have such a gleam in her eyes when someone was obviously in danger? How could she worry only about herself?

Worse yet: Edward had that gleam in his eyes too. I recoiled from him, the animalistic look on his face disgusting me to the very core.

A quiet sobbing reached my ears when I finally fought myself into the small living room, where I found a young woman curled up in a ball by the far wall. She was clutching her sides so hard that I was afraid she might hurt herself, and she kept chanting something with her head tucked firmly against her legs:

"Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name…"

The mirror behind her was shattered into a million pieces.

"Oh, my God…" somebody muttered, but I was too shocked to match the voice to a name. All I could see was the young, broken woman sitting amongst innumerable tiny splitters of equally broken glass, mumbling useless prayers and oblivious to her new visitors.

"I told you we shouldn't have waited!" Kate roared at her sister, and I felt a pang of hatred wash through me at the sound of her egocentric worries.

"This is _your_ fault," Rosalie spat at me, and I immediately understood that she was referring to my insisting to tell our friends about our find. I gave her no answer but a glare.

I had never hated Rosalie, even when she'd hated me. But now I did, and it felt fully justified.

As no one else seemed to feel any sort of concern for the girl at all, I took a step forward, intending to give her some much-needed protection from the horrors of the vampire world, but the sound of my advance made her head snap up.

Her eyes widened in fear.

"She's in a store house to the south of the town! A-Abbey road, number 4. Please, _please_ don't hurt us!"

That was all the young woman could say before she broke down again, reciting the prayer louder and louder against her thighs.

"How convenient," somebody whispered behind me. "We didn't even have to ask."

The group filed out again, not once stopping to look back at the broken woman. Somewhere behind me I heard Emmett shiver, but he obediently followed Rosalie out when she told him to move. Soon the room was empty except for me and Edward.

He tugged at my sleeve.

"Come on."

Still not lifting my eyes from Linda Oakenford, I ripped my hand away from his.

Cowards. Idiots. Monsters.

In midst of all the severity, I had to acknowledge the irony of it all. Wasn't it funny how once monsters strived to be human again, they just turned more and more monstrous?

This was the price of mortality, and it was wrong, so wrong…

I took one last look at Linda, and then left her there to lie in the fragments of glass.

Like all the other vampires, I simply turned away.

* * *

_A/N:_ I appreciate every bit of feedback I get :) Review?


	8. The Weather Beaten Warehouse

__Chapter Eight__  
_The Weather-Beaten Warehouse in the Middle of Nowhere_

**Demetri's POV**

All good things come to an end.

I recognized the truth in that saying when we met Jane and Alec after our visit at 2560 Hemlock Street. As expected, Jane immediately took control of the situation.

"You two are utter fools," she snapped at us. "You should have been more careful. How could you leave the witness alive? How could you make such a grave mistake?"

Oh, goodness. Why, out of all the people in the world, could _Jane _never fall out of character?

I shared a glance with Felix. We'd known she'd have something to protest about our mercy and therefore had an excuse prepared. Jane exercised a strict "live or let die" policy—and always chose the latter option when it was her call to decide.

"It'll look good on our records if we leave _someone_ alive for once. The girl won't be a problem."

"Oh, I'm sure it'll look excellent on our records when we _fail_," Jane spat out, but was clearly already thinking of other, more pressing issues. "Are you sure the information she gave you is correct?"

"We aren't amateurs, Jane." The image of a terrified young woman begging us to spare her life filled my mind. "Trust me—she didn't lie to us."

The car entered a darker part of the forest and I savored the thick woods around us, noting just how easy it would be to disappear in such a jungle. Dorothy Mace had found a perfect hiding place—it was only her friend that had been the weak link of her escape plan. The trees were thick and bulky, and blocked the few rays of sunlight that weren't already thwarted by a thick blanket of clouds. Where there were no trees to impede my sight, there were abundant ferns. The forest was a sea of green.

Suddenly a large, gray building came into view and broke the strict color code of the thriving woodland. Its weather-beaten walls contrasted with the life of the forest and its size violated the delicacy of the nature around it. Its only consolation was the fauna that had begun to cover the exterior and paint the lifeless building with color.

It was remote and hard to find—the perfect hiding place, I noted once more.

We all eyed the house with either curiosity or greed.

"She's in there. I can feel it," Jane commented before getting out, and I had to agree with her. There was someone in that lifeless building, and that someone was most likely the exact someone we were looking for.

But like Jane, I could only trust my instincts and _feel_ it.

**Rosalie's POV**

Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap…

Two of my senses informed me of our problem: my sight and smell.

"Is that a car?" Emmett asked from beside me, and I pitied his slow wits. He was about five seconds too late with his observation.

As we drew nearer at breakneck speed, my nose, too, registered our unwanted adversaries. The smell of four different vampires hung in the air, and I was instantly able to label the scents.

Jane, Alec, Felix and Demetri. _Of course_.

"Uh-oh," Emmett finally said. "The Volturi."

Five seconds late, as usual.

"How long have they been here?" I asked Edward, trying desperately to think of a solution to this problem. I'd been an idiot to not think of a plan B before coming here—after all, we'd all known the Volturi were ahead of us. Why had we been so darn idiotic? Was Emmett's disease contagious?

But Edward seemed calm enough and his answer brought some of my hopes back. "They just arrived."

I pressed down on the brakes, bringing the car to an instant stop. Both Tanya and Jasper followed my lead, and we hastily got out of the three cars. My head was in a flurry, making it impossible for me to think right—only emotions were in control now.

Fear, agitation and worry. Hope, determination and want.

"We have to get to Dorothy before they do. Let's split up—quickly!"

I grabbed the person nearest to me, only to realize—to my great horror, I assure you—that out of all the dozen vampires around us, I'd picked Edward. _Edward_. The eternal nagger. And on top of that, it was also too late to turn around and choose someone less annoying—a squirrel, for example.

But, to think positive, at least his mind was synced with mine. That meant less reaction time and more actual action. And then he wasn't as dim-witted as _some_ in the company, and he was certainly much more motivated. That meant less screaming on my part, and less whining on his.

So actually, I could have been much worse off. That conclusion immediately lifted my spirits.

Letting me know that he approved of my logic, Edward glanced at me without a smile. Maybe he was still offended about the squirrel part. Maybe he was just too focused.

Either way, I was pretty sure his thoughts somewhat resembled the jumble in my head:

Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap…

In this fashion, Jasper, Alice, Tanya, Kate, Emmett, Bella, Edward and I joined Jane, Alec, Felix and Demetri inside the abandoned building.

**Dorothy's POV**

Someone was there—I could hear him.

No, not him—them. There was more than one vampire downstairs. I could clearly perceive the sound of their feet tapping against the concrete floor. How many were there, exactly? I could count at least three… five… eight…

Twelve. There were a dozen pairs of feet downstairs, all running towards the same target.

_Me._

Oh, God.

**Kate's POV**

Jane made her presence known by hissing at Tanya and me as our paths crossed in one of the vast rooms.

She went right, we went left.

"Let's try the basement," I whispered.

**Dorothy's POV**

What now, oh Lord, what now?

They were coming upstairs, I was sure of that. Both sides of the building were being guarded. I was sandwiched between the two staircases.

As always in life, there were two possible directions—up or down.

"Down" was occupied. "Up" was free.

But "up" was also a dead-end. Oh, why had I been so stupid to leave the bottom floor? I'd ruined all my chances of escape!

I listened intently as one group entered the building, and then a next. They all spoke in muted voices, but I could still hear scraps of their conversations. They were either discussing where to look first, assigning teams to different parts of the building, or ordering others around—what sort of organized mob was this?

"You two, take the basement. Alec and I will check upstairs," a female voice commanded. At some point, that same high voice hissed at someone else, not sounding very friendly at all. If they were working together, why did they seem so unorganized?

Maybe they weren't working together.

Thank God for small favors! There had to be a meaning in their disorganization. Perhaps God hadn't abandoned me, after all.

But even if it was some heavenly miracle, it didn't solve my problem of being stuck on the upper floor. Should I risk sneaking down the stairs and out the back door?

Maybe God had been kind enough to make them blind, as well.

While automatically scolding myself for thinking such unrighteous thoughts, I tiptoed to the eastern staircase. I couldn't remember ever being more scared than I felt then—my head was almost dizzy from the panic and my insides bulged as if I was about to puke. Maybe I _would_ have puked if I'd had something in my stomach. But as of now, I could only hold back a dry gag.

My mind was all over the place, switching from prayer to concrete begging. I was too incoherent to see the insanity in some of my wishes: Lord, please let them be a vampire-rescue team that help fellow vampires in need! Please, please, _please_ let them spontaneously combust! Lord, please do _something_!

My foot was just above the first step when I heard two voices that shifted my whole world around:

"Jazz, wait up!"

"Shhh! I think she's upstairs, Alice…"

My immediate reaction was to freeze. My next was to run.

Even before my joints could unlock themselves again, my body was flying towards the other side of the room, to the other set of stairs. Had any vampire ever tripped? I sure felt like I was about to. Now, out of all the times in my life, had to be the day to feel ungainly.

But once again, my body froze in panic when I heard two other voices echoing from behind the one last corner that separated the upper and lower steps.

"Do you want me to torture her before you knock her out?"

Torture me? That sounded even worse than the other option.

I stood there helplessly, not breathing, not moving, and just staring at the staircase in terror. My mind was far from silent as some deeply buried instincts told me to make a run for it. Somewhere in my head, I knew that not moving was a terrible idea. But I was in shock.

Right at that moment, my whole life flashed through my mind. I felt the presence of myself more than I ever had before. My eyes focused on a bright light that wasn't coming from this dimension. I seemed to separate from my body, to float into space…

But I wasn't dead yet, right? _Right?_

And then I snapped.

* * *

_A/N:_ Muahahah! Sorry for the cliffie and rather short chapter, but it had to be done this way ;) I would love to get some feeback, so please comment if you have a minute. Thank you!


	9. Guardian Angel

__Chapter Nine__  
_Guardian Angel_

**Dorothy's POV**

_But I wasn't dead yet, right? Right?_

_And then I snapped._

Was it a divine power that made me dart up the stairs at the speed of light? Was it God who led me to the empty floor where I had more time to collect myself? I didn't know and I sure didn't care—I could thank the Lord later, if I ever got the chance.

In fact, I swore that if I got out of all this alive I would praise the Lord every day and every second of the rest of my miserable long life.

I reached the next landing just in time, as the voices on both sides of the building now resonated from exactly one floor below me.

I flew to the middle of the long passageway between the two staircases. Desolately, I noticed that I was at the top of the building. There was no more "up" anymore.

An abrupt hiss made me jump out of my skin. Had someone spotted me?

But—with a big, silent sigh of relief—I realized that it wasn't me the hiss was directed at, but the other pair of voices underneath me. The sound was hostile, and was reaffirmed by a second hiss from the other party. Though the sound was terrifying, I realized that it was also good for me: both groups came to a sudden halt. They seemed unsure of how to continue—would they search the lower floor first before heading upstairs? Neither of the parties appeared willing to make a move, and that granted me some much needed time.

Time which, however, went to waste. Even if I had all the time in the world, what _could_ I do? I was stuck, at a dead-end…

And then, from one terrifying second to the other, the screaming started.

Someone was suddenly screaming just one story below me, thrashing against the hard concrete floor as if the demons of hell were personally there to light fires in him. All I could make out from behind the agonized, blood-curdling, spine-tingling, hair-raising scream was that he was male and not alone. A woman screamed with him, only using words rather than noises; she was begging someone to stop and emitting dry sobs. And that someone was laughing at the top of her lungs, as if she was enjoying every ounce of pain that she was obviously causing this unknown person…

I started to realize what she'd meant with "torture". My insides collapsed like a house of cards.

I didn't know what to do. I was lost. I was doomed. Purgatory was waiting.

But then I felt something.

A soft breeze touched my frozen cheek as I stood in the middle of the hallway, facing the eastern staircase. All I had to do was turn ninety degrees to the right to detect the source of the fresh air.

A window.

An _open_ window.

Thank you, Lord, _thank you_!

Some part of my brain registered my own foolishness for not coming up with this to start with—of course there would be a window somewhere for me to use—but the relief was far too strong to allow for any embarrassment. I wasn't lost, after all! I had an escape route there, practically staring me in the face…

It took a few seconds for the command to reach my legs, but when it did I almost flew to the little square in the wall. The window couldn't have been more than two feet wide, but it was just the right size for me to climb through without making a sound. And to think that I didn't even have to break the glass! My eyes closed for half a second to send one violent applause to heaven above. God was maybe a little sluggish, but he was plenty ingenious enough to make up for that.

I pushed the panel aside—it didn't even creak!—and flung my legs over the pane. The slight breeze tickled my neck, soothing me after all the horrors I'd had to endure that day. I breathed in the sweet scent of nature that welcomed me in. It would offer me a better hiding place, I was sure.

I braced myself and let go. In one swift movement, I was down.

The moist earth felt heavenly beneath my feet. I straightened myself and shook the worst dirt off my clothes, too glad and relieved to grasp that there was still danger around me. Just the sight of the open forest with no "up" or "down" was enough to make my heart swell.

For the first time in days, I felt safe.

And for definitely not the first time in days, my happiness was shattered and tread upon in just one tiny part of a second.

"Look, there she is," a low voice whispered from behind me.

Oh, God, no. No, no, no, no…

Why wave a carrot in front of my nose if only to snatch it away a moment later?

God was a sadist.

Not really feeling anything but fear and loss anymore, I swung around to face my capturers. Maybe God was just kind enough to make them less sadistic than the woman upstairs. But considering everything I'd already experienced that day, I highly doubted it.

Two vampires were walking towards me. They were coming so slowly that I wondered whether they really wanted to catch me at all. Maybe they were so sure of my seizure that they had no need to hurry.

My lungs seemed to unfreeze right then, for my breathing returned at a hectic, ragged rhythm that would surely frighten away any forest animals in a three mile radius. I didn't shake, of course, as my body was stone hard, but I felt some nerve ends in me quiver. I didn't know what expression I had on my face—one of fear, or the original one of surprise?

The vampires inched closer, the nearer one raising his hands reassuringly, as if he was capturing a wild animal.

"It's all right, Dorothy, it's all right… we don't want to hurt you…" he murmured.

His words had no effect on me. How could they, when the man uttering them was so tremendously terrifying that it washed away all reassurance? The dark-haired vampire was huge, and not only in height. His muscular arms did _not_ make me want to happily leap into them. His chest was broad and burly. His legs were thick as tree trunks, and something told me it wasn't fat that made them so big. Only his face was gentler than the rest of his body—it was a round, boyish face with thin lips and warm eyes that gazed at me with an expression I couldn't decipher. Was it regret I saw there? Or was it just pity?

The woman walking slightly behind him placed a graceful hand on his upper arm, causing both to halt just a few feet away from me. I shifted my eyes to assess her, wondering whether sadism was something that you could see in someone's looks. The woman didn't _look_ demonic, at least, but what vampire ever did?

She had long brown hair that cascaded down her shoulders. She wasn't tall, especially not put beside her large companion, but she was certainly taller than me. Her heart-shaped face was bejeweled by a pair of large, gentle, light eyes that were topped by two thin lines of eyebrows. In this instance, both brows were furrowed, and her face overall revealed her discontentment.

The female dropped her hand from the big one's arm, sending the last of his restraints down the drain. What would stop him from attacking me now? I drew in one last breath, expecting the cast-iron blow to arrive any minute.

But instead of attacking me, the man only lowered his arms and said: "It's all right, girl. We wish you no harm."

The rate of my breathing increased.

"Look, she's terrified," the young woman asserted, now pulling the man back again. "Dorothy, I promise we don't want to hurt you."

I remained silent.

To my great confusion, the two vampires just stood there, gauging at me as if I were an attraction at some freak show. They took in my no doubt nervous appearance but made no move to seize me—and I, petrified as I was, made no move to _escape_ them.

Finally the bigger one let out one loud sigh and turned to the woman.

"Bella, we need to tell the others."

There was evident regret in his voice, but I couldn't quite match the feeling to his words. What others did he mean? The female upstairs who wanted to torture me?

The woman—Bella, apparently—looked back at me, thought about something for a second, and then turned back to the man. Her eyes were fierce.

"No, Emmett."

I couldn't believe my ears.

The big man seemed to share my feelings, although I could swear there was some understanding in his eyes.

"Bella, we can't just—"

"Oh, yes, we can," she retorted. "Just look at her!"

Emmett did look, and his forehead wrinkled as he did. He sighed again.

"Rose…"

"To hell with Rosalie!" the woman hissed. "To hell with all of them! They've been treating us rotten in the last few weeks. Has Rosalie spoken one kind word to you since we left home? Has she given you a single kiss?" Emmett frowned, and Bella smirked. "I thought so."

I watched their exchange in utter wonder. Had my muscles been loose enough to move, my jaw would have surely dropped open.

"Please, Emmett. _She_ doesn't owe them anything."

She gestured once more towards my frozen figure.

Emmett looked at me for a third time, and then closed his eyes. Clenching his hands into fists, he slowly shook his head.

"All right. I see," he said.

My mind comprehended the meaning of this, but my heart did not. There was no way that he'd just given me free leave. There was no way these two vampires could be angels that had been sent down just for me. There was no chance.

But when Bella looked up at me and smiled, I _had_ to understand.

"Go, Dorothy. We'll cover up for you here."

Still unbelieving, I started to recover my senses. My legs regained their feeling, flexing in the need to get away _now_ before God decided to play another trick on me. My knees bended, and then I flew, taking the first few steps towards my freedom.

But on my third step, someone called out behind me. For the third time, I froze.

"Dorothy, wait!" Oh, Lord, what now?

Bella appeared by my side then, still that warm expression upon her face. She lifted my hand and placed something on it, closed my palm, and finally took a step back.

"Goodbye, Dorothy. Be safe."

Without a glance I stuck whatever she'd given me into the pocket of my jeans and for the first time since God knows how many days, I smiled.

"Lord bless you."

And I was off into the forest, finally free from the hell house that had transformed from a safe house to a prison in a matter of just a few minutes. I felt liberated, and I felt safe, once again sure that there was some sort of God above me in the skies.

I had but two insecurities:

"Where would I go?" and "Why, oh, _why_ was God so indecisive?"


	10. Circles

__Chapter Ten__  
_Circles_

**Emmett's POV**

If there was anyone who knew how to make a scene, it had to be Rosalie.

"I can't believe we lost her!" she screamed at no one in particular, though I had the feeling that a certain part of her anger was reserved just for me. I cringed; my own private tantrum was awaiting, how nice. "She was right there; I could _smell_ her! We all could!"

I looked out into the trees, feeling guilty and relieved all at once. I felt wretched for having caused my wife all this pain, even if she displayed it in the form of rage. I also felt pity for my siblings who were already getting annoyed at her, and realized that I would most likely have to spend the next few weeks apologizing for her behavior. With a sigh I admitted that I was in no position to pacify her—her eyes were like brutal flamethrowers that were constantly aimed at whatever living object was happening to pass by.

Daggers? Huh! The inventor of that phrase didn't know my Rosalie.

"How could she disappear like that?" Jasper interjected in a rare moment of silence. "There's no doubt she was in the building, but she couldn't possibly have sneaked out through the back. There were too many of us. Someone was guarding outside…"

Rosalie emitted a short, humorless laugh that was so cold it made my spine tingle. "I wonder who?"

She turned to me with a noxious stare. Nah, forget noxious. The stare she gave me was practically a nuclear weapon of mass destruction.

I gulped. I had no answer prepared.

"Maybe she hid herself somewhere and waited for us to give up," Bella suggested from the side. I gave her a thankful glance.

Fortunately, her suggestion forestalled Rosalie's lethal attention from me. She cursed a few times and kicked a tree, causing it to come tumbling down with a loud crash that echoed through the empty forest. I thanked my fortune—that tree could have been me.

After another few minutes of Rosalie's raving monologue, Edward cut her off by quietly saying: "I can't understand why I couldn't hear her."

His comment silenced Rosalie for a moment, and caused all heads to turn in one direction. I tried to show no reaction, but failed—when I met Bella's eyes, I frowned. There was no way in hell she was going to talk herself out of this. Sooner or later someone would figure it out. And when they did… well, let's just say that I wasn't looking forward to it.

Bella seemed as forlorn as I was. She quickly averted her gaze to a nearby tree and pretended to examine the thick, emerald moss there, unconsciously chewing on her lip and looking deep in thought.

Edward cocked his head to the side and took a step towards her. "It's very strange, don't you think?"

The whole family loomed in on her.

I was about to distract them in an attempt to shield Bella from having to shoulder all the blame, when she suddenly snapped her head up to stare at Edward with unexpected confidence. The expression on her face was out of place and I knew it wouldn't fool him, but the certainty that radiated from her eyes was enough to stop him in his tracks.

"Maybe I'm not the only like this. Maybe Dorothy is a shield, too."

Neither Edward nor Rosalie looked convinced.

"You know what I think happened?" she continued, looking utterly unconcerned about their disbelieving expressions. "Someone got to her before we did, most likely the Volturi. They sacked her up before she had the chance to scream and carried her off while we were still searching the lower floors. By now they've probably killed her. You know Aro wouldn't want his people suddenly running around as humans, now, would he? That has got to somehow go against some ancient law that he's dug out just for the occasion."

Rosalie's answering cackle was ruthless. "Right! And I grow wings at night and run around collecting people's teeth!"

"You are not the tooth fairy," Bella muttered under her breath in an unusual bout of bravery. I choked back a laugh.

Rosalie, unfortunately, heard it too.

"How _dare_ you make fun of me, little girl! How. Dare. You. You know what, Bella? I hate you. I always have. And you have no one but yourself to blame. What, did you think I would just let this drop? I _know_ you have something to do with this! You and Emmett let her run off, didn't you? What did she offer you? A private session so you can have another little baby with your oh-so-charming husband, and still be turned back into a vampire to enjoy an eternity of motherhood?"

"Rose," I whispered, placing my hand on her upper arm.

"_Don't touch me,_ you traitor! I want a divorce, _now_. In fact, I want a divorce from every single marriage that we've had over the years. I want all thirty-one of them annulled."

"Don't be stupid," I pleaded with her. She wasn't serious—she'd threatened me like this before. "You know I love you, Rose."

Rosalie barked out a cold, vindictive laugh. "Love me? Is this how you like to demonstrate your love? By taking away the only thing that I've ever wanted?"

"No, Rose, I—"

"Leave me alone, Emmett. Leave me alone."

And she took off into the forest, not even glancing back to look at my desolate expression. Alice laid her tiny hand on my arm and smiled tentatively. "She'll come around."

I shook my head. Of course she'd come around; she always did. I knew she wasn't really all that angry with me. Or specifically with me, I supposed. At the moment, Rosalie was angry with the world in general, and I just happened to be the closest being that she could blame.

No, it wasn't that I was afraid that she might not forgive me. I was much more worried that the whole issue had wounded her permanently. And she was already so wounded…

A wave of comfort washed through me, and I smiled weakly in the direction of my youngest brother. Jasper smiled back; thankfully, he seemed to have forgiven me much quicker than the others.

Edward, who had watched Rosalie disappear into the forest with a rather brooding expression, turned back to Bella and crossed his arms tightly across his chest.

"Another thing I don't quite understand," he spoke quietly, "is why I cannot hear _Emmett's_ mind right now."

I snorted rather loudly. _That_ was my lil' sis.

Bella flashed me a grin and then turned to Edward with a challenging look in her eyes.

With a voice that spoke a thousand words, she said: "Yes, it's all rather strange, isn't it?

**Dorothy's POV**

An overpowering sense of déjà-vu flashed over me as I prepared to board the next leaving train with my bible tucked tightly underneath my arm.

I stared at the wheels of the decelerating train and thought of circles. During my entire life, circles had always followed me around—when I saw the trees shedding their leaves and growing them back again, when I saw the generation change around my unchanging little world, and most of all when I heard Richard preach about God and his miracles, which unavoidably somehow involved flowing.

Now I had completed another circle. From the train station to the train station. If life consisted of circles and life flowed, did the fact that I met _one_ of the requirements mean that the other applied too?

In other words: Was I alive?

I stopped that train of thought before it could truly blossom. Philosophy went way over my head. Besides, didn't the bible say something about human wisdom and how it was not to be trusted? Thinking was not my job. Following God's will was.

The train finally came to a halt, but I still had to wait for the slow humans to disembark. The crowd was small, yet somehow they still found a way to accidentally bump into me as I waited near the door. I pulled my hand away as a middle-aged man with a considerable bald patch on the top of his head grazed my free arm. He didn't even notice me, but the contact reignited my worries—was I really safe?

I quickly examined my surroundings, which of late was becoming a troublesome but wise habit of mine, and calmed myself with the notion that nobody was watching me. But my chest was still tense from anxiety when I finally got into the safety of the train.

Very well, so I was finally on the train. Now what?

Oh, Lord, was there a reason I never had a plan ready?

I hugged the bible, my only possession apart from the clothes I was wearing, closer to my chest. _Now would be a good time for a sign from above_, I thought.

Then I heard the paper crumple.

Surprise swept over me, and I felt ashamed for feeling it—my goodness, had I begun to believe that my heavenly father would forsake me?

Without wasting a minute I laid the thick book on my lap and opened the cover. Sure enough, there it was: the piece of paper the kind woman had handed me. It was folded in the middle, but I could see the dents of the writing that was on the other side.

Thanking the Lord for his mercy, I unfolded it and quickly scanned over the words.

It was an address in the States.

Before I could feel any confusion, I detected a short sentence underneath the scribbled words: _Come here._

I drew a deep breath.

Though I knew I was being ungrateful and sinfully faithless, I couldn't help but instantly feel wary. There was no knowing what I would find at that address. It could easily be an atrocious trap. There had been so many vampires there that night, and I remembered how unkind they'd been to each other—what if, like all the greedy people on this planet, they didn't want to share?

The gently smiling faces of my two saviors flew through my thoughts. They'd seemed so compassionate and understanding, but I could be mistaken. Perhaps they weren't as benevolent as they'd lead me to believe.

I closed the bible again. My life was at a crossroad once again, and my decision was hanging on a single little note that I'd received from a vampire I hardly even knew. How was it fair? It felt like I was constantly on trial, and still hadn't made the right choice that would free me from it.

Right and wrong. Faith and faithlessness.

And circles, the never ending circles.

I released the air from my lungs and leaned back in my chair. I'd made my choice and I needed to follow it through—maybe that was the mistake I kept making. I didn't walk to the end of the paths that I chose.

Well, at least I'd gotten a second chance.

And now I had a new destination.

**Bella's POV**

I was growing tired of all the confusion and disappointment around me. With Rosalie stomping off into the forest and Emmett's look of utter despair, I decided I needed a break from all the suspicious glares. I announced that I was going on a short walk.

But Edward grabbed my arm before I could leave. His eyes burned with something unfamiliar and his grip was oddly firm, as if he was trying to force the information out of me. I squeezed my lips tightly together.

"I said I'll be right back," I told him frostily, though at the same time I felt my features soften from the hurt that was suddenly injected into his black irises.

I'd half expected him to not let go, but he did.

I took off into the woods, feeling confused, weary, and yet proud of what I'd done. It had been the right thing, the _only_ right thing in that situation. It warmed my heart to know that Dorothy was far away and safe now. Not even Edward could make me regret the decision to let her go.

After roaming aimlessly around for a few minutes, I finally sought myself a quiet spot beneath a flourishing oak and sat down on the damp soil. For the first time in days I was able to just take a deep breath and forget my predicament. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the moment of nothingness, listening to the quiet bird song.

Suddenly something rustled nearby that did not fit in with the other noises around me—a footstep. My eyes flew open.

I'd expected to find Edward standing there, or perhaps Emmett, but instead met the eye of Demetri Volturi who was staring at me from behind another tree. My reflexes brought me down to a crouch as I assessed my aggressor's mood.

But Demetri didn't seem hostile. On the contrary—there was almost something gentle in the way he watched me, mixed with indubitable sadness. He stood completely still.

"What do you want?" I asked through a set jaw, calculating the distance between me and the others in case I needed to make a run for it. Were they close enough the get here on time if I called out?

Demetri stepped out from behind the tree and crossed his hands in front of him, a gesture that showed he meant no harm. "I wanted to talk to you."

Already knowing where this conversation was leading, I held back a sigh and answered: "Go home, Demetri."

His eyes narrowed for one fleet second, not out of enmity but of something that almost resembled hurt. He shook his head. "I already know you let Dorothy go," he said staunchly, "but I wanted to ask you something else."

I raised my eyebrows. What could Demetri possibly want from me if not information?

"It's just one question. It'll only take a minute," he continued, his eyes glued on mine.

I mumbled something like "Fire away", though I knew it probably sounded like mush to his ears. My thoughts were still on Edward. For the first time since God knows when I actually felt a longing for him, a longing that he would be by my side and make me feel safer…

The question Demetri flung at me was like a silver bullet that punctured my hard flesh instantly and left me stunned and confused.

"If I was a human, would you want me?"

My mouth gaped.

"I… I don't know what you mean," I confessed, understanding but refusing to believe. "Want you _how_?"

"Want me… romantically." Demetri had to visibly force the word out, although not much altered about his determined stance and unwavering tone.

I could only stare at him and ignore the meaning of his words.

"I only want Edward," I told him. "Only Edward. Forever. Vampire or not."

I expected—and feared—he'd ask, "Why?" but instead Demetri only nodded and turned his eyes away from me, choosing to stare at the oak instead. His expression shifted minutely.

"Thank you." I had to blink twice—he hadn't just _thanked_ me, had he? "I'll let you go now."

He turned around to leave. I was still too shocked to reply.

Before he disappeared into the woods, however, Demetri turned around and said quietly: "The Volturi won't bother you anymore. Your secret is safe with me."

And with that he took off, leaving me standing in the damp soil with an idiotic expression on my face.

It took me a few minutes to recover, but when I did I suddenly felt something I hadn't felt for a long time—a desire to be with the man whom I'd married, no matter how angry he was with me at the present time.

Still refusing to draw any conclusions from Demetri's question, I simply shook my head and traced my steps back to the forest path where my family was waiting for me to return.

* * *

_A/N:_ Guess what -- it's my birthday today :D Give me a treat and review?


	11. Everything You've Ever Wanted

__Chapter Eleven__  
_Everything You've Ever Wanted_

**Bella's POV**

Only chaos has the potential to turn into something.

Sometimes that something is what you were expecting. Sometimes it isn't. The only thing you can tell for sure is that whatever the something turns out to be, it has to be the only possible and therefore inevitable ending of the beginning.

And so it was the destiny of all the vampires of the planet to not find the girl whom they so feverishly sought.

We returned home soon after our failure—we grabbed a thrashing Rosalie from the woods and called our parents with the news. They were very sorry that we had lost Dorothy, of course, but they could nevertheless not quite hide their joy when they heard we were heading home again. Carlisle especially, though always so diplomatic, could not cover his relief.

At home Rosalie locked herself into her room and refused to talk to anyone for three days. Eventually she allowed Emmett to join her in sulking, and finally the rest of the family, with me as the only exception. Our relationship was back at square one—another perfect circle had been completed.

What happened to the others? I couldn't be sure. Some gossip had reached my ears: apparently, the Volturi had stayed to rake the woods only to find nothing at all, and some other rumors stated that Jane had been in quite a state when she was finally dragged back to Italy with the rest of her crew.

Another, though exponentially less probable rumor was that _Demetri_ had been the one to call the shots, and that he'd sent everyone home before they even had time to go through all the evidence.

But it was only gossip, and what had my mother always told me? _"You can't trust the grapevine."_

Though the outside world remained but a bag of rumors, the changes within my family were factual and irrefutable. Rosalie… well, she would now carry one more scar on her beautiful, flawless face. I'd formed a special bond with her husband as of late, so even though I never actually saw her, I was still constantly informed of her condition. Emmett and I were like partners in crime; we shared the same secret and tried to carry each other's burdens as well as we could.

To my great surprise the rest of the family took it quite well. Jasper was bitter for only a few days before he started talking normally to me again, mostly due to Alice's evident delight to have the family whole again. Esme and Carlisle were virtually thankful for our betrayal, so I found no resentment there.

The person who surprised me the most was Edward.

When we'd first returned home he had hardly spoken to me, evidently peeved about my reserve. He didn't say a single word during the first night, and though we shared a room, we didn't touch each other once in the dark hours of the night.

But just as I was feeling so despaired that I was about to burst, he calmed down.

Oh, he was still suspicious, I could tell. But he stopped asking about the matter and starting talking to me naturally again. It was already on the third day that he started to kiss me, and on the third that we did more. After a week it was as if nothing had ever happened between us.

I contemplated confessing everything to him—not that he didn't already know—but feared his response. What if he was only hoping for a confirmation to his doubts and was ready to start searching again the minute he received it? I decided not to tell him until I was absolutely positive that Dorothy had permanently disappeared.

The search for that verification then became my topmost pastime.

I was constantly outside, either hunting or running, and always alone. The duty lay heavy on my shoulders, as I knew that if she came I would have to react immediately or I would endanger her again. I had given her our address in the hopes of offering a safe hideout, but my good intentions were darkly shadowed by the fact that there were at least three vampires there who would gladly capture her at the first chance they got. I hadn't been thinking when I'd passed her that note; surely the last thing she needed right now was to come to _me_ when she could be safe?

Once a few weeks had passed, I started hoping that she'd ignored my note and wouldn't come at all. Still, the possibility of her turning up was too big to give me any slack and I was obliged to carry on with my rounds.

It was just when I was starting to give up with inventing new excuses when she finally arrived.

I was on the west side of our home, a good five miles away from any hostile vampires. Far enough to hope that Edward hadn't heard her yet. I quickly threw my shield over Dorothy and ran in the direction of her nut-like scent. She smelled of peanut butter, I noticed and stifled a giggle. Peanut butter and fruity jam.

Running fast so she wouldn't get too close to the house, my approaching footsteps seemed to alarm her for she froze on her heels, clearly mulling over whether to run or hide. I quickly whispered a reassurance—a chase was the last thing I needed—and slowed down.

Finally I detected her shady figure among the bushy ferns. The expression on her face switched from panic to relief in an instant when she realized who I was.

"It's you," she whispered. "_Bella_."

She said my name as if it belonged to an angel.

Not wanting to scare her, I halted a few feet away. "It's better to stay away from the house," I warned her. "The others are there."

Dorothy's eyes widened. She hadn't been expecting anyone else, I realized.

I tried to calm her. "We should be fine if we stay here," I added with a small smile.

She nodded and cast her eyes to the ground, shifting from one foot to the other. Was it nervousness? Well, I couldn't blame her. She was practically in the lion's den.

"I wish I could invite you over. My family is really quite nice, you know, and the most of them would love to have you as our guest. But…"

"…they're not safe," Dorothy concluded sadly and closed her eyes. I started internally at the sound of her voice—it was much more childlike than I'd been expecting.

I smiled at her unhappily, wishing once again that I could trust my family enough to let them help her.

"But_ I_ can help you," I told her, answering both her silent question and my own thoughts. "You'll need to stay on the down-low for a while, just until things have settled down enough. Nobody knows what you look like, so you should be all right if you use a different name. Head north, and try to blend into the crowd. Rent an apartment… ah, here. Have this."

But Dorothy shrank back from the bundle of money that I stretched out for her.

"I… I couldn't possibly…" She looked at the dollar bills as though they were immensely precious diamonds.

I shook my head and smiled. She greatly reminded me of someone I knew.

"It's okay. Nobody here will miss it. Trust me." I winked.

Dorothy hesitated for a moment, but finally reached out for the money and slipped it into her black jacket's pocket. She murmured me her thanks.

We were silent for another long moment, and her unease grew with each of them. I sighed; I knew I had to let her go before somebody would find us. As much as I wanted to help Dorothy, I had to admit that this was the most I could do for her. The best thing she could do right now was disappear.

"You should go now," I told her, smiling when she looked up from the ground to meet my eyes. Her wine-red irises were encircled by a set of perfect black eyelashes. Her forehead wrinkled.

"You've been so very kind," she said in a quite voice, still not moving from the spot. She hesitated for a moment before she spoke again. "Words aren't enough to express my gratitude. But… there _is_ a way I can repay you."

I understood immediately.

My mouth hung open in shock as I took in her unspoken offer. I hadn't been expecting it, and I definitely hadn't been _hoping_ for it, so the thought had never crossed my mind. During the chase I had been too resolved with trying to keep my family together to even consider it.

It was the one thing everyone wanted… and it was right here before my nose.

The realization hit me like a tidal wave.

I could become human again.

I thought about my years as a human. Though I'd never admitted it to Edward, I really did miss the oblivion of sleep and how it made all your worries dissolve into the numbing darkness. I missed the feeling of my mouth watering up when I smelled something good to eat. I missed the way the hunger faded completely after you ate, as blood thirst never left completely even when you were fully satisfied.

I thought about children. I could give Nessie a little sister or brother…

It was all within my reach.

I looked at Dorothy. She stared back at me with evident fear in her eyes.

That's when I knew I couldn't accept.

"Thanks, but no thanks," I answered, and she blinked twice in obvious surprise. I watched the fear slowly melt from her face—who'd have thought that she was so terrified of her own miraculous powers? Relief once again flooded her features.

And though it ached, I knew I'd done the right thing.

"I'm more than happy enough the way I am," I added, both to myself and to her.

Dorothy nodded, confused, but took a step back and turned to leave.

For one last time she looked over her shoulder to whisper in the tiniest voice imaginable: "Goodbye, Bella."

"Bye, Dorothy."

Her head whipped around again, but before her foot could hit the ground she sighed and turned around again.

"Dottie. My friends call me Dottie."

I smiled.

"Goodbye, Dottie."

But she couldn't hear me, for her figure had already disappeared into the profuse maze of trees.

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A/N: This was the last real chapter! There's still a short epilogue, but otherwise the story is done :) I know the ending is abrupt, but the best stories leave the reader wanting more. A story can't drag on forever.

If you have a minute, I'd love to hear your thoughts on everything!

And thank you for all the lovely birthday wishes :)


	12. Epilogue: That Red Thread

__Epilogue__  
_That Red Thread That Leads Us Through The Thick Maze_

**Edward's POV**

I looked out through the window that separated me from the fresh air of the outer world.

The sun reflected off the glass as if it were a mirror, sending rays of light across the clear summer air. The light seemed to reach out for miles before it dissolved above the prosperous forest. Nature was at its peek at this time of year; I could almost smell the vivacity of the small woods. Brilliantly green fauna now covered everything that had once been gray or brown.

As my eyes roamed across the forest's crown, a small movement in the outskirts caught my attention. Instinctively, my eyes sprung to the source of the disturbance.

There was someone there, I could tell—Bella, perhaps? She had said that she'd be spending the day outside. That's what she was always doing these days. Avoiding me.

Maybe she was angry. I sighed; I really had to find a way to atone for my childish, yes, _greedy_ behavior. Who wouldn't be angry at me for coveting, once again, everything that I already had in one form or another?

I watched the moving dot in the distance with a feeling of longing that slowly spread from my chest to the rest of my motionless body.

But as my eyes focused, I could see that Bella was not alone. There was someone else there, partly hidden in the endless sea of ferns and bushes. I strained my eyes as the figure disappeared into the shadows altogether. I could barely make out Bella waving goodbye to the raven-haired vampire through the dense canopy of trees.

My confusion was swept away when I noticed what her mind was saying—namely nothing.

That vampire's mind was as silent as my wife's, of course.

The young girl already had her back to Bella as her short feet carried her away from the danger as quickly as possible. The last glimpse I saw of the girl was her black head bobbing to the rhythm of her scurrying feet. Fear radiated through every inch of her being.

She looked so forlorn there, in the emerald labyrinth.

My wife looked so strong.

And in the second after, her impermeable shield receded from the girl's mind. Dorothy was barely within my ability's reach, but I could still hear her faint, high-pitched inner voice. It said:

_"Maybe God does exist on this planet. Maybe he has sent down guardian angels to protect us."_

Bella's face appeared in her mind and I smiled at the association—my angel had now been recognized by someone else, too.

The last ounces of mistrust diminished deep within me. What had Bella said just a few weeks ago?

_"This isn't about debt and penance."_

Why I hadn't seen the truth in her words then, I couldn't understand.

Dorothy's voice finally vanished completely along with the rest of herself, and the tiny dot that was undeniably Bella began nearing the house at a great speed. I humored myself by thinking that the speed was due to eagerness, that she wanted to come home to me so much that she had to hurry.

It was probably just wishful thinking, but I smiled at the thought anyway. Opening the window, I let myself drop onto the spongy lawn below.

I hurried to my wife with double the eagerness that I had projected into her.

* * *

A/N: This is the end of the story. I hope you enjoyed it! If you have any comments, please feel free to leave me a review :)


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